Australian study to detect breast cancer by breath test

Australian doctors have begun new research which could allow them to detect early signs of breast cancer in a breath test.

Professor Christobel Saunders of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth has received a $US74,000 grant for a study to screen the breath of patients to detect abnormal cancer cells.

"In normal human breath we breathe out many hundreds of these things called volatile organic compounds and what they appear to do is be early warning signs for things going wrong in the body," Professor Saunders said.

"They can show stress in the cells and that stress can be due to compounds released by very early cancers."

Professor Saunders says the breath test would not make mammograms obsolete but would be used in addition to them.

"We may be able to use this breath test to find out who is likely to have a normal mammogram," she said.

"But secondly for women who have a mammogram which shows up an abnormality, this may be able to point very directly to whether this a cancer or not."

A study involving 300 volunteers will be conducted in Perth over the next two years.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA