Exhaled breath contains hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Several independent researchers point out that the breath of lung cancer patients shows a characteristic VOC-profile which can be considered as lung cancer signature and, thus, used for diagnosis. In this regard, the analysis of exhaled breath with gas sensor arrays is a potential non-invasive, relatively low-cost and easy technique for the early detection of lung cancer. This clinical study evaluated the gas sensor array response for the identification of the exhaled breath of lung cancer patients. This study involved 146 individuals: 70 with lung cancer confirmed by computerized tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography—(PET) imaging techniques and histology (biopsy) or with clinical suspect of lung cancer and 76 healthy controls. Their exhaled breath was measured with a gas sensor array composed of a matrix of eight quartz microbalances (QMBs), each functionalized with a different metalloporphyrin. The instrument produces, for each analyzed sample, a vector of signals encoding the breath (breathprint). Breathprints were analyzed with multivariate analysis in order to correlate the sensor signals to the disease. Breathprints of the lung cancer patients were differentiated from those of the healthy controls with a sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 91%. Similar values were obtained in patients with and without metabolic comorbidities, such as diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia (sensitivity 85%, specificity 88% and sensitivity 76%, specificity 94%, respectively). The device showed a large sensitivity to lung cancer at stage I with respect to stage II/III/IV (92% and 58% respectively). The sensitivity for stage I did not change for patients with or without metabolic comorbidities (90%, 94%, respectively). Results show that this electronic nose can discriminate the exhaled breath of the lung cancer patients from those of the healthy controls. Moreover, the largest sensitivity is observed for the subgroup of patients with a lung cancer at stage I.

One of the main causes of the high mortality rate in lung cancer is the late-stage tumor detection. Early diagnosis is therefore essential to increase the chances of obtaining an effective treatment quickly thus increasing the survival rate. Current screening techniques are based on imaging, with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) as the pivotal approach. Even if LDCT has high accuracy, its invasiveness and high false positive rate limit its application to high-risk population screening. A non-invasive, cost-efficient, and easy-to-use test should instead be designed as an alternative. Exhaled breath contains thousands of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since ancient times, it has been understood that changes in the VOCs’ mixture may be directly related to the presence of a disease, and recent studies have quantified the change in the compounds’ concentration. Analyzing exhaled breath to achieve lung cancer early diagnosis represents a non-invasive, low-cost, and user-friendly approach, thus being a promising candidate for high-risk lung cancer population screening. This review discusses technological solutions that have been proposed in the literature as tools to analyze exhaled breath for lung cancer diagnosis, together with factors that potentially affect the outcome of the analysis. Even if research on this topic started many years ago, and many different technological approaches have since been adopted, there is still no validated clinical application of this technique. Standard guidelines and protocols should be defined by the medical community in order to translate exhaled breath analysis to clinical practice.

Currently, in clinical practice there is a pressing need for potential biomarkers that can identify lung cancer at early stage before becoming symptomatic or detectable by conventional means. Several researchers have independently pointed out that the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profile can be considered as a lung cancer fingerprint useful for diagnosis. In particular, 16% of volatiles contributing to the human volatilome are found in urine, which is therefore an ideal sample medium. Its analysis through non-invasive, relatively low-cost and straightforward techniques could offer great potential for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. In this study, urinary VOCs were analysed with a gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometer (GC-IMS) and an electronic nose (e-nose) made by a matrix of twelve quartz microbalances complemented by a photoionization detector. This clinical prospective study involved 127 individuals, divided into two groups: 46 with lung cancer stage I–II–III confirmed by computerized tomography or positron emission tomography—imaging techniques and histology (biopsy), and 81 healthy controls. Both instruments provided a multivariate signal which, after being analysed by a machine learning algorithm, identified eight VOCs that could distinguish lung cancer patients from healthy ones. The eight VOCs are 2-pentanone, 2-hexenal, 2-hexen-1-ol, hept-4-en-2-ol, 2-heptanone, 3-octen-2-one, 4-methylpentanol, 4-methyl-octane. Results show that GC-IMS identifies lung cancer with respect to the control group with a diagnostic accuracy of 88%. Sensitivity resulted as being 85%, and specificity was 90%—Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics: 0.91. The contribution made by the e-nose was also important, even though the results were slightly less sensitive with an accuracy of 71.6%. Moreover, of the eight VOCs identified as potential biomarkers, five VOCs had a high sensitivity ( p ⩽ 0.06) for early stage (stage I) lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for neoplasm. Lung cancer mortality is frequently associated with late diagnosis, therefore an early diagnosis is a key factor to significantly improve overall survival in high risk populations of asymptomatic patients. Conventional cancer screenings (low-dose computed tomography or chest x-ray) today offer early detection but are invasive and expensive. Previously these studies evaluated the solid and topographic cancer structure and morphology. Today the concept of tumor has been remodelled, being defined as a disease that has its own genetic, biological and metabolic identity; it is on this new awareness that we should base new screening methods. Recent research has shown great reliability of new tests such as exhaled breath analysis, serum biomarkers and urine analysis in early diagnosis of lung cancer. Analysis of new biomarkers associated with the high specificity of these new screening methods, which are non-invasive, safe, inexpensive and simple to perform, could allow a non-invasive approach to determine a big change in the early diagnosis of cancer and its survival rate. Furthermore, these new techniques put the patient at the core of a non-invasive diagnostic process and ensure a better quality of life during medical diagnosis. In this article, we want to analyze the possible benefits of these new and promising methods, suggesting a possible combination between them to ensure, as soon as possible, an early and effective diagnosis of lung cancer with a special focus on the patient, in a new era of personalized medicine.

OBJECTIVES: A few studies have already demonstrated survival benefits for local treatment in solitary metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to retrospectively investigate the role of surgery in patients with oligometastatic (OM) NSCLC. METHODS: Between January 1998 and December 2018, 57 patients with OM stage IV NSCLC (1 or 2) underwent a multidisciplinary approach including lung cancer surgery, local treatment of the distant metastasis (DM) and systemic medical treatments. RESULTS: All patients had DM synchronous to lung cancer. Fifty-one (90%) patients had a single DM whereas 6 (11%) patients had 2 DMs. Forty-eight (84%) patients underwent induction chemotherapy. We performed 47 (82%) lobectomies, 4 (7%) segmentectomies and 6 (11%) pneumonectomies. Pathological lymph node involvement was evident in 28 (49%) patients. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered in 20 (35%) patients. Forty-six (81%) patients had local treatment of the DM before lung resection, and 11 (19%) patients had after lung resection; 6 (11%) patients had both treatments. The median overall survival (OS) was 30 months, with the 2-, 3- and 5-year OS of 57%, 50% and 30%, respectively. OS was significantly related to lymph node involvement (P = 0.04), size of the primary tumour (P < 0.001), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.02) and the time period between metastasis diagnosis and primary tumour removal (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Multidisciplinary approach is the gold standard in OM patients. Patients with no lymph node involvement are the best candidates, with an acceptable OS. Thus, patients with OM-NSCLC should not be excluded from surgery as a matter of principle.

Our goal was to assess the safety, feasibility and oncological outcomes of non-intubated thoracoscopic lobectomies for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A comprehensive search was performed in EMBASE (via Ovid), MEDLINE (via PubMed) and Cochrane CENTRAL from January 2004 to March 2020. Studies comparing non-intubated anaesthesia with intubated anaesthesia for thoracoscopic lobectomy for NSCLC were included. An exploratory systematic review and a meta-analysis were performed by combining the reported outcomes of the individual studies using a random effects model. For dichotomous outcomes, risk ratios were calculated and for continuous outcomes, the mean difference was used. Three retrospective cohort studies were included, with a total of 204 patients. The comparison between non-intubated and intubated patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy showed no statistically significant differences in postoperative complication rates [risk ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36–1.16; P = 0.30; I2 = 17%], operating times (mean difference −12.40, 95% CI −28.57 to 3.77; P = 0.15; I2 = 48%), length of hospital stay (mean difference −1.13, 95% CI −2.32 to 0.05; P = 0.90; I2 = 0%) and number of dissected lymph nodes (risk ratio 0.92, 95% CI 0.78–1.25; P = 0.46; I2 = 0%). Despite the limitation of only 3 papers included, awake and intubated thoracoscopic lobectomies for resectable NSCLC seem to have comparable perioperative and postoperative outcomes. Nevertheless, the oncological implications of the non-intubated approach should be considered. The long-term benefits for patients with lung cancer need to be carefully assessed.