Researchers may soon be able to tell if you have lung cancer from your breath.
Medical officials at the University of Louisville found that the exhaled breath of patients suspected of lung cancer contained cancer-specific compounds, Medical News Today reported Tuesday.
The study was initially conducted on patients who had "suspicious" lesions in their lungs. Doctors tested the exhaled breath of each patient, focusing on cancer related compounds called carbonyls.
Carbonyls, classified as Volatile Organic Compounds, are normally found in low concentrations in the human body.
Researchers found higher levels of carbonyls, three out of four, in the breath of 95 percent of the patients who had a cancerous lesion, Medical News Today reported. Moreover, in 80 percent of the patients who had a non-cancerous lesion, the higher levels of carbonyls were not present.
"Instead of sending patients for invasive biopsy procedures when a suspicious lung mass is identified, our study suggests that exhaled breath could identify which patients may be directed for an immediate intra-operative biopsy and resection," Dr. Michael Bousamra, who authored the study, said in a statement obtained by Medical News Today.
According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer takes more lives than colon, breast and prostate cancer put together, Medical News Today reported.
Bousamra said their discovery has the potential to be used as standard test to catch the disease at an early stage.
"The novelty of this approach includes the simplicity of sample collection and ease for the patients," Bousamra said, Medical News Today reported.
The study was presented Tuesday at the 50th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Orlando, Florida.
So far the new approach seems to be effective. Once the malignant lesions were removed, the level of carbonyls in the patient's breath returned to normal, Medical News Today reported.
