Soon, breathalyser to detect lung cancer

British scientists are developing a breathalyser device that can detect lung cancer in early stages - even before patients start experiencing the symptoms.
Lung cancer is one of the world's biggest killers. In the UK, it accounts for six per cent of all deaths, largely because treatment is often ineffective by the time symptoms are diagnosed.
Researchers at the University of Huddersfield are developing the device that will be able to detect very early signs of the disease, making a cure much more likely.
It will be pharmacists who administer a test that has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives, researchers said.

"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 University of Huddersfield lecturer who developed the breath test project.
The project has received financial backing from Dr Philip Brown of the SG Court Group, a pharmacy chain based in the South East of England, where initial trials will be carried out.
"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," Airley said.