 It is hoped the machine could lead to early treatment |
An anonymous donation has allowed a cancer charity to buy equipment to help detect the illness at an early stage. The Liverpool-based Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has bought a state-of-the-art machine which measures the activity of genes in cancerous cells.
The measurements could lead to an earlier diagnosis of lung cancer.
"Early diagnosis would mean early treatment and this might give people many more years to live," said the charity's Dr Jim Heighway.
Quality and accuracy
The foundation says lung cancer is often missed until a late stage when people may only have a few weeks or months to live.
Dr Heighway, who leads the foundation's gene function section, said data from the device, called an AB 7500 real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) machine, helps them understand how normal lungs can become cancerous.
He added: "It will greatly improve the depth, quality and accuracy of our gene-related work and will allow us to move to the next level in our mission to identify ways to diagnose and treat the disease."
The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, set up after the death of the star from the disease in 1994, is believed to be the only lung cancer organisation in the world wholly dedicated to prevention, research and patient care.
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