Easier Diagnosis for Pulmonary Nodules

A pilot study, published in the Oct. 2012 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, showed that breath testing could be used to discriminate between benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. The study looked at 74 patients who were under investigation for pulmonary nodules and attended a referral clinic in Colorado between March 2009 and May 2010.

Researchers from Israel and Colorado collected exhaled breath from each patient, analyzing the exhaled volatile organic compounds using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and information from chemical nanoarrays, which have been developed by Prof. Hossam Haick and his colleagues in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The patients also underwent a bronchoscopy, wedge resection and/or lobectomy, whichever was required for final diagnosis. Nodules that either regressed or remained stable over a 24-month period were considered benign.

The two techniques accurately identified that 53 pulmonary nodules were malignant and 19 were benign. Furthermore, the nanoarrays method discriminated between adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma and between early versus advanced disease.

To continue reading this article, please continue on to ScienceDaily.

Sources: Science Daily and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer