Study author Michelle Gallagher, who conducted her research while a postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, sampled air above basal cell tumors and found a different profile of chemical compounds compared to skin located at the same sites in healthy control subjects.
The sampling revealed that cancerous tissue and healthy tissue contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that emit different smells. The odor profile coming from the skin of skin cancer patients was markedly different than that coming from healthy skin.
The findings, presented at the 236th meeting of the American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia, may pave the way for new methods to detect basal cell carcinoma and other forms of skin cancer.
Current methods are invasive as they involve a visual exam and a biopsy.
