Interesting research out of Flinders University confirming the identity of Volatile Organic Compounds being exhaled by persons suffering with neck cancers:

NEWS RELEASE 5-OCT-2020

Promising breath-test for cancer

Potential for early warning of head, neck cancer

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY CANCER RESEARCHER DR. ROGER YAZBEK. view more

CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

The global quest to use a person's breath analysis for rapid, inexpensive and accurate early-stage testing for cancer and other diseases has taken a leap forward.

In a new paper in the British Journal of Cancer, Flinders University researchers have reported significant progress in developing a method to test exhaled breath profiles which accurately differentiate head and neck cancer from non-cancer patients.

The Australian researchers collected breath samples from 181 patients suspected of having early-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) before any treatment began.

"We sought to determine the diagnostic accuracy of breath analysis as a non-invasive test for detecting head and neck cancer, which in time may result in a simple method to improve treatment outcomes and patient morbidity," says lead researchers Dr Roger Yazbek and Associate Professor Eng Ooi.

Worldwide, head and neck cancer accounts for 6% of all cancers, killing more than 300,000 people per year globally. Tobacco, alcohol and poor oral hygiene are known major risk factors for this cancer.

A surge in human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancers is seeing these cancers affecting a much younger population, the researchers say.

Current therapies are effective at treating early-stage disease, however late-stage presentations are common, and often associated with poor prognosis and high treatment-related morbidity.

In the Australian study, a selected ion flow-tube mass spectrometer was used to analyse breath for volatile organic compounds. Using statistical modelling, the Flinders researchers were able to develop a breath test that could differentiate cancer and control (benign disease) patients, with an average sensitivity and specificity of 85%.

Diagnosis was confirmed by analysis of tissue biopsies.

"With these strong results, we hope to trial the method in primary care settings, such as GP clinics, to further develop its use in early-stage screening for HNSCC in the community," says co-lead author Dr Nuwan Dharmawardana.

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The article, Development of a non-invasive exhaled breath test for the diagnosis of head and neck cancer (September 2020) by Nuwan Dharmawardana, Thomas Goddard, Charmaine Woods, David I. Watson, Eng H. Ooi and Roger Yazbeck has been published in the British Journal of Cancer DOI: 10.1038/s41416-020-01051-9

The Use of Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry Technology to Identify Breath Volatile Organic Compounds for the Detection of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Pilot Study

by Dhinashini Chandran ^1,2,*,Eng H. Ooi ^1,2,David I Watson ^1,2,Feruza Kholmurodova ³,Simone Jaenisch ^1,2 andRoger Yazbeck ^1,2

¹

Discipline of Surgery, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, Australia

²

Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, South Australia

³

Flinders Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, South Australia

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Medicina 2019, 55(6), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55060306

Received: 28 April 2019 / Revised: 17 June 2019 / Accepted: 20 June 2019 / Published: 25 June 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latest Advances in the Treatment of Sinus and Nasal Diseases)

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Abstract

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common form of cancer worldwide, with approximately 630,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The development of low-cost and non-invasive tools for the detection of HNSCC using volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath could potentially improve patient care. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) technology to identify breath VOCs for the detection of HNSCC. Materials and Methods: Breath samples were obtained from HNSCC patients (N = 23) and healthy volunteers (N = 21). Exhaled alveolar breath samples were collected into FlexFoil^® PLUS (SKC Limited, Dorset, UK) sampling bags from newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed, untreated patients with HNSCC and from non-cancer participants. Breath samples were analyzed by Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) (Syft Technologies, Christchurch, New Zealand) using Selective Ion Mode (SIM) scans that probed for 91 specific VOCs that had been previously reported as breath biomarkers of HNSCC and other malignancies. Results: Of the 91 compounds analyzed, the median concentration of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was significantly higher in the HNSCC group (2.5 ppb, 1.6–4.4) compared to the non-cancer group (1.1 ppb, 0.9–1.3; Benjamini–Hochberg adjusted p < 0.05). A receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.801 (95% CI, 0.65952–0.94296), suggesting moderate accuracy of HCN in distinguishing HNSCC from non-cancer individuals. There were no statistically significant differences in the concentrations of the other compounds of interest that were analyzed. Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of SIFT-MS technology to identify VOCs for the detection of HNSCC.