British scientists have developed a new breath test to diagnose esophageal and gastric cancer.

A pilot study of the test, led by Imperial College London researchers, found it to be effective in diagnosing cancer in 210 patients with a 90 percent accuracy rate. The researchers now plan to test the device in a larger clinical trial involving more patients from three hospitals in London.

"Esophageal and gastric cancers are on the rise,” noted lead researcher George Hanna. “The current method for detecting these cancers is expensive, invasive and a diagnosis is usually made at a late stage and often the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This makes it harder to treat and results in poor long-term survival rates.

“Our breath test could address these problems because it can help diagnose patients with early non-specific symptoms as well as reduce the number of invasive endoscopies carried out on patients, which often lead to negative results. Diagnosis at an early stage could give patients more treatment options and ultimately save more lives."

According to Hanna’s study, published in the Annals of Surgery, the test provides results in minutes, unlike existing methods which can take four to six hours to process.

It detects chemical compounds in exhaled breath that are unique to patients with esophageal and gastric cancer.