Detecting Cancer: Dogs, Electronic Noses, and More
OVARIAN AND PANCREAS CANCERS are challenging to diagnose early. In this context, I am delighted to bring you good news: An electronic, odor-based nose appears to be able to find cancer by sniffing vapors emanating from blood samples.
Today, we look at a small preliminary study published at the virtual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Let’s take a quick look at this non-invasive approach to finding hard-to-detect cancer early.
First, a brief review of the challenge. In the United States, the lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is 1.2 percent. This number corresponds to a rate of 11 new cases in 10,000 women per year and a death rate approaching 7 per 100,000 women per year. The 5-year relative survival for ovarian cancer overall is 49 percent.
Pancreas cancer is not uncommon, striking 13 men and women per 100,000 each year. The death rate is about 11 per 100,000, corresponding to a lifetime risk of 1.7 percent in the United States. The 5-year relative survival for pancreas cancer is a dreadful 11 percent.
The difficulty of catching these cancers is apparent.
Ovarian cancer
We catch about 16 percent of ovarian cancers in a localized state. Another 21 percent have spread to nearby lymph nodes, and an astounding 57 percent have spread (metastasis) to distant sites at diagnosis. For the remainder, we don’t have staging information.
Look at the US 5-year relative survival rates for those with local, regional, and distant ovarian cancer: Localized cancer 93 percent; regional cancer is associated with a 5-year relative survival of 75 percent; those with distant spread of ovarian cancer at diagnosis have a 30 percent 5-year relative survival.
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