Advantages of breath testing for the early diagnosis of lung cancer

Abstract

What could be more attractive than a simple noninvasive breath test for the pres-ence of tumors in the lungs at their early stages of growth? Reaching this challeng-ing objective has now become the focus of a growing body of scientists involved in breath analysis. Most of the quantitative work in breath analysis research has been carried out to identify the trace gas compounds present in the exhaled breath of healthy volun-teers. This has purpose in itself, because the ‘normal’ levels of these compounds and their concentrations need to be estab-lished if abnormal levels, which may be indicators of adverse clinical conditions, are to be recognized. For example, it has been shown that abnormally high level of breath ammonia can be an indicator of uremia, which is characteristic of patients suffering from kidney and/or liver disease, and an abnormally high breath acetone may be indicative of the onset of diabetes, although this can also be due to fasting. Breath analysis is a relatively new area of research and much more needs to be done. Nevertheless, this research is establishing breath analysis as a worthy technique for physiological studies and as a valuable addition to the armamentarium of the clinician for disease diagnosis and for monitoring therapy