A simple breath test could save lives by diagnosing deadly cancers early.
British research shows the breathalyser is 85 per cent accurate at identifying stomach and oesophageal cancers, which between them affect 16,000 men and women a year.
British research shows the breathalyser is 85 per cent accurate at identifying stomach and oesophageal cancers, which between them affect 16,000 men and women a year.
Both types of cancer are often diagnosed late, leading to poor survival rates.
It is also expected to help doctors avoid unnecessary endoscopy examinations – unpleasant diagnostic procedures that require a flexible telescope to be inserted down the throat and into the stomach.
The procedure is expensive and can be uncomfortable. Once diagnosed, around 85 per cent of sufferers die within five years. By the time symptoms appear, the disease is often in later stages.
But scientists believe the new tests, which measures five different chemicals in each breath, could make it simpler to screen patients earlier.
The chemicals give vital clues on whether someone has cancer or a less serious gastric condition.
Dr Sheraz Markar, one of the trial researchers from Imperial College London, said: “At present the only way to diagnose oesophageal cancer or stomach cancer is with endoscopy. This method is expensive, invasive and has some risk of complications.
“A breath test could be used as a non-invasive, first-line test to reduce the number of unnecessary endoscopies. In the longer term this could also mean earlier diagnosis and treatment, and better survival.”
Each year in the UK around 6,682 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer and 4,576 die from the disease.
There are 8,919 cases of oesophageal cancer, affecting the food pipe or gullet, with 7,790 deaths.
For the new study breath samples were collected from 335 patients at three London hospitals. Of these, 163 had been diagnosed with oesophageal or stomach cancer while 172 were shown to be cancer-free after undergoing endoscopy tests.
But scientists believe the new tests, which measures five different chemicals in each breath, could make it simpler to screen patients earlier.
The chemicals give vital clues on whether someone has cancer or a less serious gastric condition.
Dr Sheraz Markar, one of the trial researchers from Imperial College London, said: “At present the only way to diagnose oesophageal cancer or stomach cancer is with endoscopy. This method is expensive, invasive and has some risk of complications.
“A breath test could be used as a non-invasive, first-line test to reduce the number of unnecessary endoscopies. In the longer term this could also mean earlier diagnosis and treatment, and better survival.”
Each year in the UK around 6,682 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer and 4,576 die from the disease.
There are 8,919 cases of oesophageal cancer, affecting the food pipe or gullet, with 7,790 deaths.
For the new study breath samples were collected from 335 patients at three London hospitals. Of these, 163 had been diagnosed with oesophageal or stomach cancer while 172 were shown to be cancer-free after undergoing endoscopy tests.
The results, presented at the European Cancer Congress meeting in Amsterdam, showed that the test was both good at identifying those patients who had cancer, and unlikely to produce a false diagnosis.
Over the next three years, the researchers plan to run a larger trial including patients not yet diagnosed with cancer.
The team is also working on breath tests for other types of cancer, such as those affecting the bowel and pancreas.
Dr Justine Alford from Cancer Research UK welcomed the findings. “The next step is to see if it can detect the disease at its earliest stages,” she said.
Over the next three years, the researchers plan to run a larger trial including patients not yet diagnosed with cancer.
The team is also working on breath tests for other types of cancer, such as those affecting the bowel and pancreas.
Dr Justine Alford from Cancer Research UK welcomed the findings. “The next step is to see if it can detect the disease at its earliest stages,” she said.