A new device that makes use of nanotechnology is said to be able to detect lung cancer even before it becomes very dangerous and spreads to the other parts of the body.
In their attempt to find a treatment for lung cancer, scientists at the Tel Aviv University, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology as well as the University of Colorado developed a small took that embedded with a Nanose chip that can “sniff off” the volatile organic compounds that are produced by tumours.
The researchers carried a study out on 358 patients who were either diagnosed with or were at the risk of lung cancer. The findings of this study were presented at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago. The researchers found that the NaNose was capable of detecting lung cancer with 90 percent accuracy even if the lung nodule was small and therefore, difficult to sample.
85 percent of the time, healthy people could be sorts from the early-stage lung cancer; the chip could also differentiate between benign and malignant lung lesions in at least four out of five cases. This was further down to the VOCs that evaporate into the air with every breath and produce a certain scent profile, which the NaNose is sensitive enough to detect. As for now, the diagnosis required invasive procedures like surgery or biopsies, though it is hoped that this new development could further lead to easier, more accurate tests.
Nir Peled, professor, said, “The device could prove valuable in helping determine patients who need more intensive screening for lung cancer”.
Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer that is diagnosed in the UK. It has a really bad survival rate with only nine percent of the patients still alive even five years after their diagnosis between the years 2005-2009.
Article source: netdoctor
Image source: getty
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