The five-year survival rate is only five in 100. However, most lung cancer deaths are preventable if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. Currently the only way to diagnose lung cancer is with invasive techniques, such as taking a sample of flesh or cells from the inside of the lung for analysis. By the time a diagnosis is made, the disease is often untreatable. The patient breathes in a saline mist which induces a cough.
Scientists can then analyse the sputum.
But Professor John Field, director of the Centre, said medics were still years away from an early detection system for the disease and a national screening programme. But he said the results of preliminary work were very encouraging. Sadly, many patients have progressed to advanced disease before their tumours are detected by conventional diagnostic techniques. The presence of the same genetic markers in material obtained from the lungs of cancer patients and from the lungs of people who are not cancer patients suggest that a combination of sophisticated genetic techniques and a non-invasive examination in a health centre, could identify individuals who are at risk of developing the disease. Early identification of such individuals would greatly improve the effectiveness of treatment.