Lung cancer diagnosis through odor detection

Turkish doctor Serpil Erzurum and her team have, in America, developed a method of early diagnosis of lung cancer through a test measuring the quality of odors. Dr. Erzurum, who is the head of the Biological Illnesses Department at the Cleveland Clinic, has provoked a wide ranging stir in the medical community with her claim. For years, Dr. Erzurum had thought that the same machine used in the food, wine, and perfume industries to measure aroma level could be used in the diagnosis of lung cancer patients. She and her team worked to develop such a machine for their work, testing it on lung cancer patients at her clinic. Dr.Erzurum said the following about her work:Turkish doctor Serpil Erzurum and her team have, in America, developed a method of early diagnosis of lung cancer through a test measuring the quality of odors. Dr. Erzurum, who is the head of the Biological Illnesses Department at the Cleveland Clinic, has provoked a wide ranging stir in the medical community with her claim.For years, Dr. Erzurum had thought that the same machine used in the food, wine, and perfume industries to measure aroma level could be used in the diagnosis of lung cancer patients. She and her team worked to develop such a machine for their work, testing it on lung cancer patients at her clinic. Dr.Erzurum said the following about her work: The Tumor Has a Smell "In the beginning, we chose 14 cancer patients, and 66 healthy ones. My team took breath samples from this group, collecting them in plastic bags. Then, using the "Electric Nose," we measured the odor of the breath in the bags. A cancerous tumor emits a chemical smell in the breath. We detected this smell in every single one of the cancer patients, but none of the healthy ones. Later, we widened our testing group, and our results from all of them was clear." Dr.Erzurum says she has named the 1.2 kilo, pocketbook sized tumor-detector "Cyranose," combining the word "nose" and the name of the large-nosed hero from the drama , "Cyrano de Bergerac." Said Dr.Erzurum, "A lung cancer diagnosis is made either through a CAT scan, a chest x-ray, or by going in through the nose and taking a biopsy. In order for a tumor to show up on a CAT scan, it has to have grown some. By this time, it's getting too late for the patient. With x-rays, there are shadows that can lead to incorrect diagnoses. And a biopsy is nearly an operation in itself. Unlike all of these methods, the "Cyranose" is a cheap and simple way to do it. It can detect and note the chemical smell made by a cancerous tumor. The important difference from the other available methods is that it allows for a very early diagnosis."   Â