text_1: Lung Cancer Breath ‘Signature’ Presents Promise for Earlier Diagnosis
text_2: Image courtesy University of LouisvilleThis release discusses a study testing the efficacy of a test using the breath of lung cancer patients. Since patients with lung cancer are known to have specific chemicals in their breath — known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — which are caused by the disease, detecting them after the patients underwent surgery could indicate a recurrence of the disease. These chemicals are, in effect, markers for the presence of disease. The release notes the study showed a reduction in the amount of these compounds after patients had undergone surgical resection of the lung, but doesn’t give any numerical information about the level of reduction, other than to say it is “significant.” The release provides a nice description of costs and describes the test’s potential benefit to reduce harm from repeat CTs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States with 224,000 new diagnoses each year and 158,000 deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Both early detection and successful monitoring of disease recurrence might reduce those numbers considerably. Current monitoring for lung cancer recurrence after surgery is based on X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans. A breath test using chemical markers to detect recurrence could potentially be cheaper, simpler and less risky than repeat CT scans. However, it’s important to keep in mind that a positive breath test would still necessitate a follow-up CT scan and with almost every screening test, there is a risk of missed diagnosis.