Who needs fancy scanners, blood tests and X-rays to tell us if we have cancer? Soon, if an Alabama company has its way, all we will need to do is chew a stick of gum.
Volatile Analysis is developing the product that can determine if a person has cancer. The gum works by having the wad absorb what are called "volatiles" in the saliva as it is chewed, according to a story on Fox News Health.
The gum then will be analyzed to see if it contains certain chemicals that are produced when a person has the deadly disease.
Last year, there were 1.5 million new cases of cancer.
“Over the last 15 years, there have been a lot of attempts with different products and processes for early detection of cancer,” Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
Breath samples, urine samples and even dogs that might be able to smell cancer have been tried recently.
“None of these efforts are proven to detect cancer early,” Lichetenfeld said.
The gum is in the testing stage but Volatile Analysis plans to have the gum available to doctors and patients some time in 2018.
Read the whole Fox News Health story by clicking here.
Cox Media Group
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