Phillips M, et al. - Researchers determined the positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) of breath volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers as indicators of breast cancer risk in women with biopsy-proven breast cancer and cancer-free controls. Using gas chromatography (GC) combined with either mass spectrometry (GC MS) or surface acoustic wave detection (GC SAW), they analyzed breath VOCs. A training set and a validation set was also used to achieve the goal. They found biomarkers that accurately predicted the risk of breast cancer, via analysis of breath VOC samples collected with ultra-clean balloons. They found that a low discriminant function (DF) value was associated with a low risk of breast cancer (NPV > 99.9%). In relation to a high DF value, they observed a high risk of breast cancer and PPV rising to 100%.