Breath test could determine colorectal cancer

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Story Created: Dec 5, 2012 at 1:59 PM CDT

Story Updated: Dec 5, 2012 at 1:59 PM CDT

A simple breath test could one day diagnose colorectal cancer. A colonoscopy is currently used to screen for colon cancer, but it's an invasive procedure that can be unpleasant to prepare for.

A new study finds a breath test was able to identify patients with colorectal cancer with about 75-percent accuracy.

It works by detecting compounds in the breath that are produced by cancer tissue which metabolizes differently than healthy cells.

Breath sampling is still in the early phases of development, but researchers believe these results are encouraging.

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