Screening for gastric cancer using exhaled breath samples.

BACKGROUND: The aim was to derive a breath-based classifier for gastric cancer using a nanomaterial-based sensor array, and to validate it in a large screening population. METHODS: A new training algorithm for the diagnosis of gastric cancer was derived from previous breath samples from patients with gastric cancer and healthy controls in a clinical setting, and validated in a blinded manner in a screening population. RESULTS: The training algorithm was derived using breath samples from 99 patients with gastric cancer and 342 healthy controls, and validated in a population of 726 people. The calculated training set algorithm had 82 per cent sensitivity, 78 per cent specificity and 79 per cent accuracy. The algorithm correctly classified all three patients with gastric cancer and 570 of the 723 cancer-free controls in the screening population, yielding 100 per cent sensitivity, 79 per cent specificity and 79 per cent accuracy. Further analyses of lifestyle and confounding factors were not associated with the classifier. CONCLUSION: This first validation of a nanomaterial sensor array-based algorithm for gastric cancer detection from breath samples in a large screening population supports the potential of this technology for the early detection of gastric cancer.

Epidemiology of basal cell carcinoma in Lithuania, 1996-2010.

BACKGROUND: Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer among the white population. OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiology of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in Lithuania by analysing population-based incidence, with special emphasis on sex- and subsite-specific changes over time. METHODS: Data from the Lithuanian Cancer Registry for the period 1996-2010 were used to analyse trends in the incidence rates for BCC. Only the first case of BCC per patient was included in this analysis. Age-standardized rates were calculated for both sexes. Standardization was performed using the direct method (European standard population). RESULTS: Since 1996, overall BCC incidence rates have increased from 27.4 to 46.0 cases per 100,000 in Lithuania. In 1996, the incidence of BCC was higher among women than men (28.2 vs. 27.6 per 100,000, respectively). Incidence of BCC during the study period increased faster among men than among women (by 3.3% and 2.6% per year, respectively), while the incidence among both sexes in 2010 became almost equal -46.4 among men and 47.4 among women per 100,000. The head and neck was the most common site of BCCs for both sexes (31.0 and 32.9 per 100,000 among men and women, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of BCC in Lithuania is lower than that reported in Northern and Western Europe. The population-based data for BCC from Lithuania are closely comparable, with regard to age, tumour localization and place of residence, with the existing literature from other European cancer registries.