Could There Be a Breath Test for Determining Your Risk of Stomach Cancer?
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iStock/Thinkstock(HAIFA, Israel) — Will doctors one day be able to diagnose your risk for stomach cancer by checking your breath? A new study indicates that may be the case in the future.
According to a report in the journal Gut, scientists have developed a new device that can assess a person’s gastric cancer risk by measuring organic particles in his or her breath.
Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology conducted a study involving 484 patients and assessed how well the new test could distinguish between actual cancer (high risk) and pre-cancer (low risk).
The test demonstrated an ability to detect differences between low-risk and high-risk lesions with 87- to 90-percent accuracy.
Medical experts not involved in the study note the findings are preliminary, but additional research is already being conducted with a larger group of patients.
Because most patients with stomach cancer are not diagnosed until they are in advanced stages of the disease, the device could be an economical, non-invasive, painless, lifesaving screening tool if further research supports the early findings.
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