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.

He an unlikely breast cancer survivor -- because he is a man. But still he developed the disease that roughly 1,700 men will contract this year. And while that statistics pertaining to women and men with breast cancer differ -- women are 100 times more likely to get the disease -- the biology of the disease is exactly the same. Under the microscope, breast cancer is breast cancer. It does not behave any differently in female and male bodies. And detection, treatment, and survival rates are nearly identical for both sexes.

Bob Riter, 49, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Now in remission, he works as the associate director of the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance in New York where he speaks out and educates the public about this widespread disease. He believes his personal story, with its different twist, prompts people to really listen.

Riter's audiences learn that breast cancer in men usually presents itself as a lump in the chest, dimpling of the skin, or changes in the nipple. Doctors can perform breast exams, mammography, and biopsy to investigate the possibility of the cancer that typically strikes men between the ages of 60 and 70. Treatment includes mastectomy to remove the tumor and surrounding lymph nodes, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy.

It was the presence of blood coming from his nipple that sent Riter to his doctor -- and then to a surgeon who declared a diagnosis of breast cancer. Riter is somewhat of an exception because he reported to his doctor immediately. Most men do not. Many do not even realize they are at risk of breast cancer so they ignore symptoms. They also may go underground with their suspicions of breast cancer because of embarrassment. Both can lead to diagnoses of more advanced diseases.

Riter is doing his part to enlighten both men and women that men are not immune to breast cancer, that they should be active in monitoring their breast health. "I really like to go to national breast cancer meetings," he says, "because a lot of people know that men get breast cancer in theory, but until you have a face to associate with it, it's fairly abstract. And so I'm sort of that face."

I discovered a website called Quackwatch. The website's mission is to be a guide to health fraud and making intelligent decisions.

As a cancer survivor I was bombarded with well meaning people telling me about different alternative therapies, a cure they heard on television, a diet that can keep your body alkaline instead of acidic to kill the cancer, and a place you can go to cure cancer that you can only receive treatment somewhere in Mexico.

I can't blame anyone for bringing these things to my attention but most of this information is not scientifically proven. I know that even if its not scientifically proven it can still be of benefit, however stories about one person who say this or that cured their cancer does not mean much to me.

I went with conventional therapy. I do think there is a place for alternative treatments so I'm not bashing them. However, we all know that there are those out there who are going to prey on a cancer patient's need for help. Those that write false books and make false claims to make money. It's unfair that we have to deal with this but that is why we need to be careful about what we believe when we read or see something on television that claims to be a quick cure.

One book that really angers me is a book written by Kevin Trudeau called Natural Cures "They" don't want you to know about. I didn't read the book but I did see the infomercial. They really do try and make it look like a legitimate setting of two professionals discussing a new book.

ABC News aired a health news story to discuss the Lance Armstrong Effect, named after the seven-time Tour de France champion who survived testicular cancer even after it had spread to his lungs and brain -- why so many testicular cancer patients survive cancer -- and how it might be heat that is killing testicular cancer cells.

Johns Hopkins University researchers hypothesis it might be simply a matter of heat. Testicles are naturally a few degrees cooler than the rest of the body, and when the temperature of testicles are raised to normal body temperature, testicular cancer cells appear to be destroyed.

Because Armstrong's testicular cancer had spread beyond his testicles, researchers began to consider that heat might have played a role. The focus on Armstrong led to the term the Lance Armstrong Effect when referring to cancer cells destroyed by heat. In all fairness, the oncologists point out, this could have been named after any testicular cancer survivor.

"We've known for a long time that heating cancer cells kills them," said Dr. Donald L. Trump, an oncologist and senior vice president of clinical research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. Hypothermia treatment has been used in kidney and liver cancer cases.

In the interview, Dr. Trump explained that a needle is inserted into the tumor and the temperature raised up to 120 degrees. For whole body hypothermia treatment, the temperature can only safely be raised to 102 to 106 degrees. To watch the news video and learn more about the Lance Armstrong Effect and the applications of heat in killing cancer cells, go here.

One of the keys to finding a cure for cancer is to understand how cancer grows and spreads within the body. Angiogenesis is our body's ability to form new blood vessels. This is important and needed for the body to help heal wounds and is also a part of a woman's menstruation each month. Its function in our bodies is a positive thing most of the time.

Angiogenesis also has a role in how cancer cells grow to become tumors. Cancer cells need a blood supply to live and grow. The cancerous tumor actually develops its own blood supply by sending messages to nearby blood vessels. These vessels then have the ability to grow toward the tumor. The tumor then has its own blood vessels to thrive, survive and grow.

This was not taken seriously back in 1961 when Dr. Judith Folkman came up with the theory of angiogenesis. He felt strongly that tumors could not grow bigger than a head of a pin without blood supply. He thought that an entirely new way to treat cancer would be to block this blood vessel growth to the tumor. Decades of work has proven this theory to be correct. What changed a lot of people's minds was an experiment that was done at the end of the 1970's at Dr. Folkman's lab. Tumor cells were put into a rabbit's eye, a place in the eye where there are no blood vessels. Blood vessels did grow toward and into the eye where the cancerous cells lived.

According to what researchers understand when it comes to lung cancer, and it appears there is still more mystery than knowledgeable fact, lung cancer affects men and women differently. Researchers hypothesize this might be due to estrogen and have started a study to determine if estrogen promotes lung cancer in women the same way that estrogen promotes breast cancer. Researchers will be taking a look at the role estrogen plays in the development of lung cancer for women, and if the same drugs used to block estrogen that prevents breast cancer from advancing, or recurring, will work for women with lung cancer.

In a different study, researchers will take an overall look at the biological differences between men and women with lung cancer by identifying what role hormones, genes and other factors play in the development of lung cancer. Like I said, I think there is more scientists don't know than they do know when it comes to lung cancer. But if estrogen does indeed play a role in the development and advancement of lung cancer for women, the drugs that block estrogen from fueling breast cancer are fairly effective and this could add up to real progress for women with lung cancer.