New device sniffs out oral cancer

Scientists have revealed that an ‘electronic nose’ can distinguish between molecules found in the breath of head and neck cancer patients and those of healthy people, according to the results of a small, initial study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Researchers from Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology – collected breath samples from 82 people from three groups: head and neck cancer patients, lung cancer patients and healthy people.

The team examined the differences in the molecules present in the exhaled breath of each group using tailor-made detection equipment called the Nano Artificial NOSE (NA-NOSE).

The NA-NOSE was able to distinguish between molecules found in the exhaled breath of head and neck cancer patients and healthy volunteers. It also distinguished between lung cancer patients and healthy controls, and between head and neck and lung cancer groups.

Lead researcher and inventor of the NA-NOSE, Professor Hossam Haick, said: ‘There is an urgent need to develop new ways to detect head and neck cancer. Detection of the disease is complicated, requiring specialist examinations and the disease is often diagnosed late.’

The device is in the early stages of being readied for commercialisation through the Alfred Mann Institute of the Technion, a non-profit organisation to bridge the gap between biomedical invention and the creation of commercially successful medical products that improve and save lives.