Does a breath test help detect cancer at an early stage?

A team of researchers in the UK is conducting tests to make sure that a breath test can help detect cancer.

Scientists are studying the possibility of capturing the signals of different types of cancer through particles suspended in the air during breathing.

A team from the British Cancer Society of Cambridge gathers samples of about 1,500 people, some of whom have cancer.

If the effectiveness of this method is confirmed, the breath test will likely be pbaded on to medical clinics in Britain so that doctors refer patients for further testing.

According to the researchers, the test will be added to existing tests for early detection of cancer, such as blood and urine tests.

But the result of these experiments will only be known two years later.

British medical authorities have welcomed the tests, but warned that the test would not be available in all clinics soon.

Accurate tests

This is the first experience and we can not be sure of its effectiveness until years later.

But the technique on which the test is based is not new.

For years, many scientists have tried to detect certain cancers by breathing.

There are serious indications that the breath test may reveal some symptoms of cancer, but scientists have not confirmed their accuracy.

Respiratory tests must be precise to avoid any misdiagnosis.

This means that there is still a long way to go and that more samples need to be tested before the test is available in medical clinics.

"Revolution" in the diagnosis of cancer

Trials begin with patients suspected of having cancer of the stomach or esophagus and should include patients with liver, kidney, prostate, liver cancer. bladder and pancreas in the following months.

Rebecca Clodrick, 54, who has a malformation of the esophagus and can cause cancer.

"I am happy to participate in this experience, I want to help as much as possible to advance scientific research and I think the more advanced my research is, the more I can control situations like this," she says.

"We need to find new methods, such as this breath test, that can help us diagnose cancer at an early stage and give patients a chance to overcome it," said Rebecca Fetgegerald of the Cancer Research Society.

Dr. David Cosby, head of the badociation's early diagnosis unit, said that this method could "revolutionize cancer diagnosis in the future."