British researchers have developed a new device that effectively “sniffs out” prostate cancer cells in urine.

The findings, by scientists with the University of Liverpool, mark an important milestone in developing a urine test to diagnose prostate cancer that could alleviate the need for invasive biopsies and other diagnostic procedures millions of men undergo each year.

A pilot study of the so-called “Odoreader” device, published in the Journal of Breath Research, found that was able to identify cancer among 155 men treated at British urology clinics. Of this group, 58 were diagnosed with prostate cancer, 24 with bladder cancer, and 73 without cancer.

"There is an urgent need to identify these cancers at an earlier stage when they are more treatable as the earlier a person is diagnosed the better,” said Chris Probert from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Translational Medicine, who has been working on the project for several years.

“After further sample testing the next step is to take this technology and put it into a user friendly format. With help from industry partners we will be able to further develop the Odoreader, which will enable it to be used where it is needed most; at a patient's bedside, in a doctor's surgery, in a clinic or Walk In Centre, providing fast, inexpensive, accurate results."

Co-researcher Norman Ratcliffe noted such a test would be a vast improvement on the notoriously unreliable PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test, now used to identify cancer.

"There is currently no accurate test for prostate cancer, the vagaries of the PSA test indicators can sometimes result in unnecessary biopsies, resulting in psychological toll, risk of infection from the procedure and even sometimes missing cancer cases,” Ratcliffe said.

“Our aim is to create a test that avoids this procedure at initial diagnosis by detecting cancer in a non-invasive way by smelling the disease in men's urine. A few years ago we did similar work to detect bladder cancer following a discovery that dogs could sniff out cancer. We have been using the Odoreader, which is like an electronic nose to sense the cancer."