Syft Application Talks 12: Development of Breath Test for Esophageal Cancer

Development of Breath Test for Esophageal Cancer
Prof. George Hanna, Head of Department of Cancer and Surgery, Imperial College London, UK

Who could be better qualified to explain the need for improved outcomes for people with upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers than renowned surgeon, researcher, and head of Imperial College’s Department Surgery and Cancer, Professor George Hanna? We were honored that Prof. Hanna joined us at the 2020 European Online SIFT-MS User Meeting in July to describe his group’s breath research targeted at identifying upper GI cancers earlier. His group’s work to date was reviewed and upcoming external validation studies are outlined.

Professor Hanna is head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College and Consultant Upper Gastro-intestinal surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust. His clinical work is based at Hammersmith Hospital and includes esophageal and gastric cancer and advanced laparoscopic surgery. Professor Hanna leads NIHR program in the UK for point of care diagnostics in cancer and gastrointestinal diseases (NIHR London IVD). The current interests of his laboratory revolve around volatile organic compounds analysis for biomarker discovery and understanding the molecular drivers of volatile compounds in an attempt to develop non-invasive breath test to diagnose gastrointestinal cancers. His educational research aims to develop competency assessment tools for training and quality assurance of surgical performance in randomized controlled trials.