Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ovarian carcinoma represents about 4% of all cancers diagnosed in women worldwide. Mortality rate is high, over 50%, mainly due to late diagnosis. Currently there are no acceptable screening techniques available, although ovarian can...

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Main Authors: Horvath György, Andersson Håkan, Paulsson Gunnar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2010-11-01
Series:BMC Cancer
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/643
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author Horvath György
Andersson Håkan
Paulsson Gunnar
author_facet Horvath György
Andersson Håkan
Paulsson Gunnar
author_sort Horvath György
collection DOAJ
description <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ovarian carcinoma represents about 4% of all cancers diagnosed in women worldwide. Mortality rate is high, over 50%, mainly due to late diagnosis. Currently there are no acceptable screening techniques available, although ovarian cancer belongs to the group of malignancies for which mortality could be dramatically reduced by early diagnosis.</p> <p>In a recently published study, we clearly demonstrated that human ovarian carcinoma tissues can be characterized by a specific odour, detectable by a trained dog. Another recent study confirmed these results using an electronic nose.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the present work, we examined whether the cancer-specific odour can also be found in the blood. Two specially trained dogs were used. Both ovarian cancer tissues and blood from patients with ovarian carcinoma were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The tissue tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%, while the blood tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study strongly suggests that the characteristic odour emitted by ovarian cancer samples is also present in blood (plasma) taken from patients with the disease. This finding opens possibilities for future screening of healthy populations for early diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma. A future challenge is to develop a sensitive electronic nose for screening of ovarian carcinoma by testing the blood/plasma to detect the disease at a stage early enough for treatment to be effective.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-f2c99b135b4b48d98ecfed462a496b832022-12-22T01:42:43ZengBMCBMC Cancer1471-24072010-11-0110164310.1186/1471-2407-10-643Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinomaHorvath GyörgyAndersson HåkanPaulsson Gunnar<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ovarian carcinoma represents about 4% of all cancers diagnosed in women worldwide. Mortality rate is high, over 50%, mainly due to late diagnosis. Currently there are no acceptable screening techniques available, although ovarian cancer belongs to the group of malignancies for which mortality could be dramatically reduced by early diagnosis.</p> <p>In a recently published study, we clearly demonstrated that human ovarian carcinoma tissues can be characterized by a specific odour, detectable by a trained dog. Another recent study confirmed these results using an electronic nose.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the present work, we examined whether the cancer-specific odour can also be found in the blood. Two specially trained dogs were used. Both ovarian cancer tissues and blood from patients with ovarian carcinoma were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The tissue tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%, while the blood tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study strongly suggests that the characteristic odour emitted by ovarian cancer samples is also present in blood (plasma) taken from patients with the disease. This finding opens possibilities for future screening of healthy populations for early diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma. A future challenge is to develop a sensitive electronic nose for screening of ovarian carcinoma by testing the blood/plasma to detect the disease at a stage early enough for treatment to be effective.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/643
spellingShingle Horvath György
Andersson Håkan
Paulsson Gunnar
Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
BMC Cancer
title Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
title_full Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
title_fullStr Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
title_full_unstemmed Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
title_short Characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
title_sort characteristic odour in the blood reveals ovarian carcinoma
url http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/643
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AT anderssonhakan characteristicodourinthebloodrevealsovariancarcinoma
AT paulssongunnar characteristicodourinthebloodrevealsovariancarcinoma