A new type of breath test that detects nanoparticles could help diagnose
stomach cancers, according to a study.
A new type of breath test that
detects nanoparticles could help diagnose stomach cancers, according to a study
published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Scientists from the Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel and Anhui Medical University in Hefei,
China took breath samples from 130 patients with a range of different stomach
complaints as well as those with stomach cancers.
They found that nanomaterial
sensors had over a 90 percent success rate at differentiating between stomach
cancers and more benign conditions. The nanomaterial sensors were also more
than 90 percent accurate at detecting the difference between early and late
stage gastric cancers.
The sensors detect biomarkers – a
chemical profile that is associated with specific stomach complaints or types
of cancer – in the air people exhaled.
The researchers hope the breath
test could be used as an alternative to upper digestive endoscopy with biopsy
and histopathological evaluation of the biopsy material, an accurate but more
invasive procedure that is the standard method for diagnosing stomach cancers.
“The promising findings from this
early study suggest that using a breath test to diagnose stomach cancers, as
well as more benign complaints, could be a future alternative to endoscopies –
which can be costly and time consuming, as well as unpleasant to the patient,”
said Professor Hossam Haick, lead researcher from the Technion – Israel
Institute of Technology.
More trials are needed to
validate the team’s findings, said Haick, who added that the team is already
working on a larger-scale clinical trial.
“Around 7,000 people develop
stomach cancer in the UK each year and most of these are in their advanced stages
when they are diagnosed. But if found to be accurate enough the nanomaterial
breath test presents a new possibility for screening a population for stomach
cancer, which would hopefully lead to earlier diagnosis of the disease,” he
said.
The article can be found
at: Xu Z-q et al. (2013) A
nanomaterial-based breath test for distinguishing gastric cancer from benign
gastric conditions.
Source: Cancer Research UK;
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