Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Israel discovery of Breath test that predicts Stomach Cancer

Scientists have discovered a new type of technology that senses compounds in exhaled breath that can be used as a screening tool to detect stomach cancer. Researchers at Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute in Israel collected breath samples from nearly 500 people, including 99 who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, but had not yet received any treatment. Samples subjected to nanoarray analysis combined with pattern recognition identified varying levels of different compounds in the ‘breath prints.’ These levels accurately distinguished between the different pre-cancerous stages, determining patients at low and high risk of developing gastric cancer. Results were consistent regardless of other influential factors like age, alcohol intake and use of stomach acid suppressant drugs.
Another type of technology called GCMS that was previously considered for stomach cancer screening is very costly and requires lengthy processing and significant expertise to conduct, researchers noted. Nanoarray analysis is highly accurate and offers a much cheaper and simpler process, they added. Study researcher Hossam Haick, a professor in the department of chemical engineering at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute in Israel, said the test would avoid unnecessary endoscopies, and would enable any progression to cancer or signs of disease recurrence to be monitored. “The attractiveness of this test lies in its non-invasiveness, ease of use, rapid predictiveness, insensitivity to confounding factors and potentially low cost,” Haick said.

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