A breath test to rule out cancer in people with vague symptoms
Volatile compounds in breath differ in cancer. A breath test validated in truly symptomatic patients, not lab volunteers, could tell GPs who needs urgent scans and who can safely wait.
Breath VOC studies are mostly case-control and fail on replication. Propose validation exclusively in prospective symptomatic primary-care cohorts, targeting a rule-out use (negative predictive value above 99%) rather than diagnosis, with locked classifiers and external validation before any clinical use.
- Most lethal cancers are found late · Screening exists for only a few cancers. Pancreatic, ovarian, liver, oesophageal and most lung cancers are found when cure is unlikely.
- Biomarkers are not validated or standardised · Tests that decide who gets a drug are often not validated prospectively and are measured differently in every lab.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- CompanyHarbinger Health
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