electronic nose

[john]

· Health/Science

· Lung Cancer

International

· Italy

Roman nose sniffs out lung cancer

Source: Agence France Presse (AFP), 2003-05-07

Intro: University of Rome scientists have pioneered an electronic nose that, they say, may one day give an early warning to people with lung cancer.

The experimental device works in the same way as hi-tech hygiene "sniffers" that are already in use the food industry, which analyze air on the production line for the tell-tale chemicals released by rotting ingredients, New Scientist says.

In the case of lung cancer, the e-nose responds to a signature cocktail of alkanes and derivatives of benzene exhaled by someone with the disease, the British weekly reports in next Saturday's issue.

The eight-sensor nose proved to be 100-percent accurate in a test at a Rome hospital in which it analyzed a breath sample from 35 people with a large lung tumour and 25 others who were healthy.

[Tiny]

Wow!! Way cool! It would be marvelous if this will be able to be used as a universal screening tool for LC!!

(This gives a new meaning to "bad breath", though, doesn't it??)