Breath analysis for colorectal cancer screening.

Abstract

The soothsayer has featured in history since the dawn of time with deities and oracles being consulted as a primitive reaction to human disease. The smell emanating from sick people has always been taken as a warning of dire consequences. In Greek and Roman mythology, a snow-white bird, named dhalion or caladrius, was used to forecast the prognosis, as the bird refused to look at an ill patient who would not recover1. In the IVth century BC Hippocrates of Cos described the fetor hepaticus to characterize liver insufficiency2. More recently, sniffer dogs have been shown to be able to discriminate patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) from healthy individuals thanks to their extraordinary sense of smell3. In 1971 Nobel laureate Linus Pauling used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify volatile molecules in the vapour arising from urine which can characterize a subject's health status4. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.