Breath analysis test
shows strong accuracy for detecting esophagogastric cancer
The breath test showed good
sensitivity and specificity in detecting early-stage esophagogastric cancer,
according to researchers in the U.K.
“Current U.K. referral
guidelines for suspected esophagogastric cancers focus on alarm symptoms such
as dysphagia and odynophagia, despite these symptoms having poor sensitivity
and specificity for esophagogastric cancer and often only occur in advanced
disease translating into a poor outcome and overall survival.“
Volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) emitted from the human body have been of interest to
researchers for several decades, with associations previously suggested between
specific volatile organic compounds and breath and lung, bladder and breast
cancers. Researchers collected breath samples from 335 patients at three London
hospitals (n = 172 in control group, n = 163 with esophagogastric cancer). The
researchers then performed selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry analysis on
the samples. Researchers sampled the
air in hospital rooms, trained researchers in breath sampling, calibrated
instruments regularly and conducted unambiguous VOC identification to ensure
the quality of the breath samples. Researchers used a previously generated
5-VOCs model to determine the risk for cancer based on the air samples compared
with proven diagnoses.
The group with proven
cancer was older than those in the control group (median age, 68 years vs. 55
years) and had a larger proportion of men (82.2% vs. 47.4%).
Most patients in the
diagnosed group had a tumor stage of T3 or T4 (n = 123; 69%), and most had nodal
metastasis (n = 106; 65%).
The breath analysis test
demonstrated a sensitivity of 80%, and a specificity of 81%.
“The next stage is a
large-scale diagnostic accuracy study among the primary care population where
the test is intended to be employed”
https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/gastrointestinal-cancer/news/in-the-journals/%7B33e382f0-2f85-43cc-aa68-b26982794c4a%7D/breath-analysis-test-shows-strong-accuracy-for-detecting-esophagogastric-cancer
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