Skin cancer 'smell' may aid detection

Researchers have discovered an odor profile for skin cancer, and they hope it might eventually lead to a simple, noninvasive test to diagnose the most common form of skin cancer in the U.S.

Scientists were able to differentiate healthy odor profiles from cancerous ones by identifying unique smells generated by naturally occurring chemicals in healthy and diseased tissue.

In the study, researchers sampled the air above back and forearm areas among 25 healthy men and women ages 19 to 80. They then tested the air above tumor sites in 11 basal cell carcinoma patients, as well as above the disease-free skin of 11 healthy volunteers.

They found that cancerous tissue and healthy tissue contained different chemical "recipes," resulting in different smells.