Abstract
The positive outcome of lung cancer treatment is strongly related to the earliness of the diagnosis. Thus, there is a strong requirement for technologies that could provide an early detection of cancer. The concept of early diagnosis is immediately extended to large population screening, and then, it is strongly related to non-invasiveness and low cost. Sensor technology takes advantage of the microelectronics revolution, and then, it promises to develop devices sufficiently sensitive to detect lung cancer biomarkers. A number of biosensors for the detection of cancer-related proteins have been demonstrated in recent years. At the same time, the interest is growing towards the analysis of volatile metabolites that could be measured directly from the breath. In this paper, a review of the state-of-the-art of biosensors and volatile compound sensors is presented.
Highlights
Lung cancer is one of the most lethal cancer forms, in particular because a large part of the development of the disease may occur in an asymptomatic form, and the disease is typically manifested at advanced stages [1]
On the contrary, exhaled air is characterized by a small concentration of oxygen, a large content of carbon dioxide, and a number of volatile compounds produced by the body metabolism
The major outcome of the combination of sensors with microelectronics is the diffusion of the analytical capabilities well beyond the traditional realms
Summary
Lung cancer is one of the most lethal cancer forms, in particular because a large part of the development of the disease may occur in an asymptomatic form, and the disease is typically manifested at advanced stages [1]. Low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) scanning has been suggested as a screening tool, especially in the presence of high risk factors for lung cancer [2]. This type of procedure, carried out every year, is expected to increase greatly the possibility of early-stage tumor diagnosis, contributing to the increase of the survival rate [3]. The exposure to the ionizing radiation of low-dose CT might increase the risk of developing cancers. In the case of lung cancer, sensor development is mainly oriented towards two different scopes: the detection of specific cancer-related biomarkers and the detection of patterns of volatile metabolites. The sensor technologies for both of these objectives are introduced, and the state-of-the-art of sensors for the identification of lung cancer is presented and discussed
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