"Breath Biopsy Offers Doctors New Way to Test for Cancer" - Dr. Max Gomez
A recent breakthrough could provide a fascinating new way of detecting cancer. It’s a breath test that researchers hope can pinpoint signature smells of multiple cancers by detecting specific molecules the disease puts out. It all started with man’s best friend. At Medical Mutts it may look like a regular day at the trainer, but their dogs use their noses to learn how to alert humans what ails them. Dogs have hundreds of millions of scent receptors, and at Medical Mutts they learn how to use them to detect things like blood sugar levels in diabetics, anxiety episodes, and upcoming seizures. Recent studies show dogs also seem to be able to smell certain odors in the urine of prostate cancer patients. It’s not surprising, said Nicholas Rohs, MD, assistant professor of hematology and medical oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “There’s a lot going on in the body,” he said. “Metabolizing things, breaking it down, and a lot gets released in urine and stool, but a lot also gets released in our breath so maybe some of those can be picked up in our breath.” The hope is for very early cancer detection.
— Nicholas C. Rohs, MD, Assistant Professor, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai