Early trials show a breath test for lung cancer detection may surface in the not-too-distant future. And it could be simple, inexpensive, non-invasive, and effective too.

The tests needs a good amount of work still, but if we keep our fingers crossed and medical researchers stay hot on the trail of this test, it just might be possible to one day spot lung cancer by simply breathing into a device for a few minutes.

The lung cancer breath test measures chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath. There's a certain pattern of VOCs associated with lung cancer, and they show up as colored dots across a quarter-sized panel.

The theory behind this test is great. The test itself is not perfect yet, however.

It's promising, though, says The Cleveland Clinic's Peter Mazzone, MD, MPH and colleagues who describe the test in the Online First edition of the journal Thorax and reveal the test correctly identified in studies three out of four people with lung cancer and detected lung cancer almost as frequently.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Techniscan Medical Systems (TMS), a Utah-based company that has developed an ultrasound imaging system known as UltraSound CTTM, a $2.8 million dollar small business grant to go forward with a radiation-free, non-invasive, breast cancer screening device that does not compress the breast during examination.

How does it work? While a woman is lying face down, the breast is suspended in warm water and an ultrasound scanner rotates in a circle, producing detailed 3-D images. According to the company, the diagnostic imaging tool will be able to detect normal, benign and malignant tissues in the breast.

To learn more about the UltraSound CTTM, visit the TMS website.

DCIS stands for ductal carcinoma in situ. The cells lining the milk ducts are cancerous, but stay contained within the ducts without growing through into the surrounding breast tissue. DCIS may affect just one area of the breast, but can be more widespread and affect different areas at the same time.

There are three grades of DCIS: low, intermediate, and high. A study was conducted that concluded that high-grade DCIS carries a significant risk of local recurrence if the patient receives surgery as the only treatment. Low or intermediate grade may be safely treated with surgery alone depending upon the individual risks and benefits of radiation and/or hormonal therapy.

The study evaluated 711 women that only received surgery for treatment of DCIS. In the year 2000 Tamoxifen was allowed. The conclusions are as follows:

• The five year risk of local recurrence for low or intermediate DCIS in the treated breast was 6.1 percent.
• The five year risk of local recurrence for high grade DCIS was 14.8 percent.
• Half of all recurrence that happened were found to be invasive cancer.

The results can help physicians understand the risks and benefits of treatment with surgery alone in patients diagnosed with DCIS.

If you receive a diagnoses of DCIS make sure you understand what is on your pathology report and what grade your DCIS is so that you can talk to your doctor about the different treatment options.

The earlier a cancer is detected, the greater the chances for cancer survival. One of the problems in surviving colon cancer is that people are reluctant to undergo colonoscopies, and therefore, colon cancer is not always detected in its earliest stages before symptoms develop.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine and EXACT Sciences Corporation are publishing study findings that show a DNA stool test can accurately predict colorectal cancer 88 percent of the time, regardless of where in the colon the cancer is located.

"This study confirms that stool-based DNA technologies can achieve high sensitivities for detecting colorectal cancer," stated Steven Itzkowitz, M.D., principal investigator and Professor and Associate Director of Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "For those individuals who are unwilling or unable to undergo colonoscopy, stool DNA testing offers a valuable and patient-friendly screening option. These results also underscore that as new markers and technologies are developed and validated, they can readily be incorporated into existing stool DNA tests to improve cancer detection and, ultimately, patient outcomes."

According to statistics, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. and more than half of the over 80 million people over the age of 50 have never been screened. I agree with the researchers who suggest that it is time to develop new non-invasive technologies for colorectal screening.

The ultrasound technique called elasticity imaging might be able to reduce the amount breast biopsies given to patients. It works almost like a regular ultrasound examination of the breast except it is much more sensitive. The technique gauges how much tissue moves when pushed to detect how soft or stiff the mass is in the breast.

The study that was done showed that all 17 of the imaging studies thought to be malignant were found to be malignant after a biopsy was done. It also identified 105 out of the 106 benign lumps in the breast. From this study it suggests that elasticity imaging is 100 percent sensitive and 99 percent specific.

This could turn out be another useful tool used along with mammography and breast MRI's to detect a cancerous lesion in the breast. I, however, will always want a lump biopsied since I know that is the only way to know 100 percent whether it is malignant or benign.

(Thanks to Patti Anastasi for the tip)

Cervical cancer was once the most common cancer in women. But between 1955 and 1992, the number of cervical cancer deaths dropped by 74 percent -- thanks to increased use of the Pap test, a screening tool that can find changes in the cervix before cancer develops and can also detect cancer in its most curable stage. The Pap test is still widely used. And the cervical cancer death rate continues to drop four percent every year.

In 2006, about 9,700 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. About 3,700 women will die from the disease. Non-invasive cervical cancer is believed to be four times more common than the invasive form of the disease. Nearly all of these cases can be cured.

Cervical cancer typically occurs in women between the ages of 35 and 55 and rarely in women under the age of 20. It affects mostly Hispanic women, and African-American women develop the disease 50 percent more often than non-Hispanic white women. Women most as risk for cervical cancer are smokers, those with HIV or chlamydia infections, those with diets low in fruit and vegetable consumption, those who between 1940 and 1971 took the hormonal drug DES, and those who have taken oral contraceptives for extended periods of time. Women who have had multiple pregnancies, have a family history of the disease, and have a low socio-economic status are also at risk. Those most at risk, however, are women with human papilloma virus.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the most common risk factor for cervical cancer, and some experts believe a woman must have HPV to contract cervical cancer. There are 100 different types of HPV, 13 of which are likely to cause cervical cancer through sexual contact. There are usually no symptoms of HPV, but possible signs of cervical cancer can include vaginal bleeding, unusual discharge, pelvic pain, and pain during sexual intercourse.

There are two ways to stop cervical cancer. First, women can protect themselves against HPV. Protection comes in the form of delaying sexual activity, limiting the amount of sexual partners and their partners, using condoms (thought to be 70 percent effective) and receiving the cervical cancer vaccine, recommended for use in females ages 11-26. The vaccine is most effective for women who have never been sexually active. Second, women can receive regular Pap tests in order to catch pre-cancers. Pap tests are recommended for women three years after their first sexual encounter and before the age of 21 -- and then every year after that.

An abnormal Pap test typically prompts a colposcopy -- a technique that uses a scope to examine the cervix. Diagnosis usually stems from a combination of other scoping methods, pelvic exams, imaging tests, and biopsies used to confirm the presence of cancer and to stage the disease. Stages range from 0-4.

For non-invasive cervical cancer, surgery -- ranging from removal of the cancerous tissue to hysterectomy -- may be the only treatment necessary. For invasive forms of the cancer, surgery is often followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Women interested in preserving their fertility should discuss options with their physicians.

The state of cervical cancer has come a long way over the years. And this year, two critical developments emerged. In June 2006, the FDA approved the first drug for late-stage cervical cancer. The drug, Hycamtin, is recommended for use in combination with chemotherapy. Also is June, the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, was released. Both developments are monumental -- and both will undoubtedly help decrease the already-dropping cervical cancer death rate.

For more information about cervical cancer, visit the following sites:

American Cancer Society
Mayo Clinic
Medline Plus
National Women's Health Information Center

Originally designed by the military as a high-tech way to see in the dark, thermography has become a painless, radiation-free, non-invasive procedure able to detect the earliest signs of breast cancer. Thermography maps out temperatures on the skin's surface, and the infrared images can pick up subtle differences that can indicate vascular changes that signal a cancer in the beginning stages. Not only that, but it can be used to monitor the breasts during treatment to track progress of breast cancer. According to the Thermography website, thermography is designed to detect fast-growing, active tumors in the intervals between mammography screenings or when mammography is not indicated by screening guidelines for women under 50 years of age -- and is particularly useful for women under 50 where mammography is less effective. Hypothetically, if there is an ability to track the slightest changes in tumor growth or regression -- choices in treatment could expand to include more alternative therapies with less guess work. Regardless of treatment choices -- alternative therapies or conventional medicine or a combination of both --there would be less wait time in finding out if a cancer treatment is working.