Breath test for early detection of lung cancer

Designed to be administered by pharmacists, the test is claimed to have the potential to save many lives.

‘The intention is that we will catch patients before they start getting the symptoms. Once lung cancer patients start experiencing symptoms it is often very advanced and has a very low cure rate,’ said Dr Rachel Airley, the Huddersfield University academic who developed the breath test project.

It has received backing of £105,000 from Dr Philip Brown of the S.G. Court Group, a Chertsey-based pharmacy chain, where initial trials will be carried out. Match funding was provided by the university.

In a statement Dr Airley explained that a breath testing device called the RTube is already available, marketed as a research tool for respiratory diseases. Now, the Huddersfield University project, taking place over three years, will research the ‘biomarker signature’ of lung cancer, as detectable in the breath.

‘When you get certain chemicals in someone’s breath, that can be a sign that there is early malignancy,’ said Dr Airley. ’We are looking to be able to distinguish between patients with early lung cancer and patients who have maybe got bronchitis, emphysema or non-malignant smoking related disease…or who have maybe just got a cough.’