• Giovanna E Carpagnano, Donato Lacedonia, Antonio Spanevello, Domenico Martinelli, Valerio Saliani, Cinzia Ruggieri, and Maria P Foschino-Barbaro.
• Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Institute of Respiratory Disease, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy, giovannaelisiana.carpagnano@unifg.it.
• Med. Oncol. 2014 May 1; 31 (5): 952.

AbstractThe exhaled breath temperature (EBT) has been proven to be the expression of airways inflammation as well as of the increased vascularity. Although both these conditions characterize lung cancer pathogenesis, this is the first study where the EBT has been analysed in patients affected by non-small-cell lung cancer. The aim of this study was to verify whether and how the lung cancer being examined influences the EBT for possible future clinical implications. Eighty-two consecutive subjects with a radiological suspicion of lung cancer were enrolled and underwent standard diagnostic and staging procedures for cancer. EBT was measured in all the subjects at the enrolment with the X-Halo device. Forty patients resulted as affected by lung cancer while 42 as false-positive (controls). We found a higher EBT in NSCLC patients compared to healthy subjects. The EBT was correlated with number of packs/year and associated with the stage of lung cancer. We identified a cut-off value for the EBT that is able to screen patients with lung cancer with a high sensitivity and specificity. Our results suggest that lung cancer causes an increase in the EBT, which, whether confirmed and validated, could become a new non-invasive clinical tool in the screening and monitoring of this disease.

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