Israeli scientists are working hard on a breathalyzer that could possibly save the lives by detecting cancer. This Breathalyzer works similar to that of a garden variety intoxication detector. There are already tests like this in the process but those require a pretreatment of the breath which could take a lot of time, cost and complexity. The Israeli Breathalyzer is bypassing the pretreatment step because of advancements in nanotechnology.

In a study conducted by the scientists, 56 healthy volunteers and 40 people with lung cancer were tested with this. In the end, 33 distinct bio markers set the sick apart from the healthy. The real question is how early this breathalyzer could detect lung cancer because the patients with lung cancer that were tested had advanced cases of it. This is a great medical advancement but accuracy is the most important factor. If it can detect cancer before the advanced stages, a simple breathe could save many lives.

(Via Dvice)