Breathing test can save lives, diagnosing esophageal and gastric cancer

Medical Adina Camarasu
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A researchers’ team from the UK has come up with a breathing test with an accuracy of 85% in the identification of stomach and esophageal cancer.

These deadly illnesses are affecting approximately 20,000 people every year.

Both stomach and esophageal cancer are usually diagnosed too late. This is dramatically decreasing the chance of survival of the diagnosed patients.

Scientists believe they could help doctors to avoid some unpleasant medical procedures, such as endoscopy. This method implies sticking a flexible endoscope on the patient’s throat to his stomach.

This procedure is, unfortunately, invasive, highly expensive and risky.

A breathing test could be used as a non-harmful medical exam. On the long term, it can help diagnosis and treatment and increase the chances of survival.

Also, the new testing method measures the parameters of several substances produced during the breathing process.

Consequently, the test will offer vital clues of someone having a gastric wound.

To accomplish the study, breathing data was collected from 335 patients hospitalized in three British hospitals. Out of these, 163 have been previously diagnosed with stomach or throat cancer. 172 did not present any symptoms of these illnesses.

The five substances that were measured were butyric, hexane and petaloid acids, as well as decanol and butanol.

Furthermore, the results were presented during The Congress of Cancer in Europe.

The breathing test came out having positive results in the correct identification of those patients suffering from cancer. None of the diagnoses was false.

During the next few years, researchers intend to proceed several such tests, only this time on patients that haven’t been previously diagnosed with cancer.

Also, researchers are working on other breathing tests for revealing other types of cancer.