Breath Analysis to Diagnose Pulmonary Nodules Disease

A pilot study claims that breath testing could be used to identify benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. Normally the patients undergo CT scan in pulmonary diagnosis procedure.

It was conducted on 74 patients under investigation for pulmonary nodules and attended a referral clinic in Colorado between March 2009 and May 210.

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

This has been developed by Hossam Haick and his colleagues in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The patients were asked to undergo a bronchoscopy, wedge resection and lobectomy.

The researchers considered those nodules as benign that either regressed or remained stable over a 24-month period.

The researchers noticed that 53 pulmonary nodules were malignant and 19 were benign.

According to the researchers this kind of testing could help solve some of the problems computed tomography (CT scan) screening has created. This testing could serve as a secondary screener for patients who were found to have pulmonary nodules after CT screening.

"The reported breath test in this study could have significant impact on reducing unnecessary investigation and reducing the risk of procedure-related morbidity and costs. In addition, it could facilitate faster therapeutic intervention, replacing time-consuming clinical follow-up that would eventually lead to the same intervention," the authors wrote.

The study is being carried in the issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology.