Health Issue: Simple saliva test for Cancer

Now, a single saliva test that can  detect a bunch of cancers       Tokyo: Japanese and US universities have jointly developed a medical technique that can quickly detect various cancers using a simple saliva test, researchers said on Tuesday.        Japan's Keio University and University of California, Los Angeles, have developed the technology with which they detected high probabilities of pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and oral cancer.       The reearchers analysed saliva samples of 215 people, including cancer patients, and identified 54 substances whose presence can be used to detect the disease, Keio University said in a statement. By further analysing the substances, the test detected 99% of pancreatic cancer cases, 95% of breast cancer and 80% of oral cancer cases among those taking part, it said.        The cancer test would takehalf a day at the longest, the researchers said. "Saliva can be sampled more easily and causally than bolld or stool inspection," said institute head Masaru Tomita in the statement.