Screening Test for Lung Cancer

A study has shown that a new test's reactivity in sputum samples may be useful for initial screening to identify subjects at high risk of lung cancer who would benefit from other tests, such as spiral computed tomography (CT). The study was presented at the international annual conference of the American Thoracic Society in Orlando (FL, USA) in May 2004.

The study involved 122 subjects who were tested with the new technique. The patient produces a sputum sample by coughing into a cup. The sample is treated with LungAlert, which produces a color change reaction that is read with a color reader to quantify the results. In the study, subjects with lung cancer had significantly higher values than subjects who did not. The majority of these patients had early-stage disease where surgery could possibly cure them. These findings are part of a study at St. Joseph's Hospital and McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) designed to determine LungAlert values in people with lung cancer and in healthy smokers. In interim data presented in 2003, LungAlert showed high sensitivity for lung cancer.

"A majority of lung cancers occur in current and former smokers,” said Dr. John Miller, head of thoracic surgery at McMaster University and co-lead investigator with Dr. Gerard Cox. "Because no other options currently exist to screen for early-stage lung cancer, we are very encouraged by the results we have seen in this and earlier studies with LungAlert.”

LungAlert is the product of International Medical Innovations, Inc. (IME, Toronto, Canada), a company dedicated to developing rapid, noninvasive tests for the early detection of life-threatening diseases, especially cancer and cardiovascular disease. More than 85% of lung cancer cases can be directly or partly attributed to smoking.




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