Your breath holds many clues about your overall health and well-being. Bad breath, medically known as halitosis, may be a sign of poor dental hygiene including decaying teeth and build-up of bacteria in the oral cavity. Persons questioned for DUI usually undergo a breathalyzer test to analyze their alcohol content.
A recently shared study provides another potential use of breath, and this time, it may save millions of lives: it can be used to determine if a person has lung cancer.
A press release published in Eureka Alert by the European Lung Foundation cited a newly presented study, with Professor Elisiana Carpagnano from University of Foggia in Italy as the lead author, that showed a person's breath temperature may be able to detect the presence of lung cancer.
The said findings, which were then presented during the international congress of European Respiratory Society, narrated the experiment conducted among 82 patients who were determined to have some lung cancer symptoms based on their X-rays. The researchers then used a special device known as X-halo that can measure the temperature of their breath.
Around half of the patients who underwent comprehensive diagnostic exams received a positive diagnosis, and interestingly, based on the temperature readings, they were the ones who also registered higher levels of heat in their breath. Moreover, among those confirmed, those who smoked and/or at later stages of the disease recorded warmer temperatures.
This study is incredibly significant since lung cancer is one of the most fatal types of cancer in the world. In the United States, it is responsible for the most number of cancer deaths regardless of gender, perhaps because it is often discovered in the later stages when symptoms such as excessive and long-term coughing are more pronounced.
According to American Cancer Society, this year, more than 200,000 men and women are expected to be diagnosed with it. Further, the method of detecting cancer, which is through different kinds of biopsies, still remains invasive.
With the findings, the scientists may be able to find cheaper and more effective means to detect lung cancer accurately, especially in its earliest stages.