Esophageal cancer can be treated swiftly if detected early, but the problem is most cases are only detected once the symptoms start showing up. Fortunately, scientists in the Netherlands have developed a new type of breath test that can detect one of the cancer’s known precursors with great accuracy.
Although the test is still being tested in trials, it could offer a cheap, non-invasive way to screen populations for susceptibility to the disease, which is typically detected through endoscopies where a long tube with a camera attached is used as a means of examination.
Thus far, the device has proven capable of identifying patients with the known precursor to Esophageal cancer with 91 percent accuracy.
