Utility of breath biopsy as a screening tool for HCC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The utility of the breath biopsy in detecting volatile organic compounds specific to Hepatoceollular Carcinoma (HCC)
IRAS ID
250335
Contact name
Mohamed Bekheit
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Hepatoma / Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a primary liver cancer, recognised as one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It has an annual incidence of>5000 cases in the UK, which has increased by >150% since the early 1990’s. Obesity is a relatively newly identified cause of liver cancer. The increase in the prevalence of obesity is expected to contribute to an increased incidence of HCC in the coming years.\n\nNon-invasive early marker detection is needed to capture the affected individuals at an early stage where effective treatments are possible. The Nobel prize awarded discovery by Pauling showing that different disease states express organic biomarkers that can be detected in the human breath has opened new perspectives for non-invasive diagnostic methods. This method has shown promise in identifying lung cancer and was helpful in stratifying diseases like asthma.\n\nThe aim of this pilot study is to build on these exciting findings and investigate the ability of breath sample analysis of capturing biomarkers specific to the HCC. If positive, our research could open up a new horizon for cost-effective and feasible screening tools.\n
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
18/NS/0130
Date of REC Opinion
3 Dec 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion