Amazing New Breath Test Could Detect Cancer

Amazing New Breath Test Could Detect Cancer

The past 20 years have seen the death rate for colorectal cancer drop by a significant number, however, it still has the second leading cancer related deaths for both men and women in the U.S today.

While a colonoscopy can detect and prevent roughly two-thirds of colorectal cancers only half of the people over 50 have the test done.

The American Cancer Society recommends that all people over the age of 50 should have a colonoscopy every 10 years or as an alternative a fecal blood test done yearly.

One of the reasons so few people take this potentially lifesaving test is that it is expensive, time consuming and quite invasive. Dr Donato Altomare and his team tried to change that and undertook a clinical trial for a breath test to determine colorectal cancer.

In the study researchers tested 37 patients with colorectal cancer in varying degrees and 41 patients who were healthy. The participants were left in a room for 10 minutes to create a balance between their breath and the surrounding air after which their exhaled breath was collected and analyzed to determine key factors that might show their state.

The study proved a 76% accuracy rate in detecting cancer, an encouraging result that with more testing can lead to a fantastic new method to diagnose a whole range of cancer types.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday December 07 2012, 2:54 AM EDT. Ref: CNN. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0