The future of Cancer Screening and Diagnosis

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The Breath Test
It's difficult to imagine how a simple breath test can be used not only to detect but also differentiate between the 4 common forms of cancer: lung, bowel, breast and prostate. A small but successful study, published in the British Journal of Cancer was able to do this.

When a cancer grows, its surface emits chemicals. Sensors involving gold nanoparticles can be used to detect these chemicals in the breath.

Professor Abraham Kuten, co-author of the paper, and based at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, said: "This study shows that an 'electronic nose' can distinguish between healthy and malignant breath, and can also differentiate between the breaths of patients with different cancer types.

If these initial results are confirmed in large-scale studies, this new technology along with imaging could become a simple tool for early diagnosis of cancer.

By Poonam Vaswani
Senior Dietitian Nutritionvista.com

NutritionVista

User Comments

06 February, 2011 | Preethi Rahul | Reply

Hi Poonam.. indeed a commendable article... Preventive oncology is definitely the need of the hour as far as the indian society is concerned..a lot of money is being spent on clinical trials and drug development.. but cancer is a disease if detected at a very early stage can be treated easily.. Thus the media needs to spread more awareness on preventive oncology.. more people should be encouraged to go for screening tests.In fact free screening should be done in rural areas for cancers related to tobacco. It is good to know about the latest techniques ..only the cost becomes an issue in a developing nation like India

07 February, 2011 | Poonam | Reply

Thank You Preethi. Inspite of sophisticated techniques being available for screening, a lack of awareness and a fear of getting a positive diagnosis often come in way of early diagnosis. Cancer is a silent disease in the very early stages and patients usually report to the physician only during advanced stages of the disease. If high risk individuals would voluntarily get themselves screened a lot of lives could be saved.

02 February, 2011 | Vijayalakshmi Iyengar | Reply

Its indeed commendable that latest studies are getting more sophisticated in their treatment- painless and more accurate as they are targeted exclusively on cancer cells, sparing the healthy cells from being affected.
However we as a society should focus and promote HEALTHY EATING, for as the adage goes `An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure', besides we definitely have quality of life and we are sure of the end result

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Tags: Cancer, Cancer Diet & Nutrition, Cancer Management, Cancer Prevention, Lung Cancer, Oral Cancer, Screening

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