Not only can a breath test tell you how much you’ve had to drink, now it can tell you if you have cancer! Ok, not exactly the same thing, but it’s pretty interesting what your breath can tell. Medical News Today details:
US scientists have developed and tested a prototype breath test to detect lung cancer
The results of the test is published in the international journal of respiratory medicine Thorax.
In tests, the colour testing device, which is about the size of a coin and is not expensive, had a 75 per cent success rate in detecting people with cancer.
It can also detect people with early stages of lung cancer.
However, in testing the device also showed false positives – it picked out people without lung cancer.
Using a technique called a “colorimetric sensor array”, the test picks up the chemical fingerprint of the breath of people with lung cancer.
Lung cancer tumours, like other cancers, produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are different to normal cells. And because the tumours are in the lungs, the breath is likely to contain signs of these abnormal compounds. This means the potential for a lung cancer “fingerprint” in the breath is a viable method for detection.
Continues at Medical News Today …
