21 Oct CHEST 2014: Breath Test May Become Accurate Enough For Lung Cancer Detection
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Peter J. Mazzone, MD, FCCP MPH
Director of the Lung Cancer Program for the Respiratory Institute
Cleveland Clinic
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Mazzone: There were 2 parts to this study. In the first part we looked at how the breath collection instrument and sensor were performing and made adjustments to both in order to optimize its performance.
In the second part we used the improved device and sensor to see if we could accurately separate a sensor signal of our patients with lung cancer from those without lung cancer. We found good separation of lung cancer from non-cancer breath signals, and very good separation of signals of one type of lung cancer from another.
We have concluded that a colorimetric sensor array based breath test is capable of separating those with lung cancer from those without.
Medical Research: What should patients and clinicians take away from this report?
Dr. Mazzone: We learned about ways that we can enhance the sensor and breath collection instrument, and showed enough promise that this can be an accurate test, that we plan to design a larger study with an improved system in hopes that this will be the final step towards having a clinically useful test.
Citation:
The analysis of volatile organic compound profiles in the breath as a biomarker of lung cancer
Last Updated on October 21, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD