A rather odd way of detecting cancer is being widely praised after the new method proved to be very effective in cancer screening.

A hospital in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. claims it is using a common household liquid to detect potential esophageal cancer earlier and cheaper than previously possible.

The method appears to be a breakthrough in how the average physician goes about detecting and treating certain forms of cancer. The revolutionary method employs regular vinegar to achieve the new astounding results.

The new process is both simply quick and cost effective. The procedure requires a patient’s throat to be sprayed with diluted vinegar. The vinegar, acting as a simple dye, allows the potential cancer cells to show up with ease.

Prof Pradeep Bhandari, one of the main doctors behind the discovery, explained that it allowed precancerous cells to be spotted earlier and then to be simply scraped away.

Taking around forty minutes, the new vinegar procedure means patients may leave the hospital the day of the appointment.

The more traditional medical procedure of using an endoscopic camera proved not as effective in spotting small precancerous cells as early, producing the need for a more effective way at spotting the precancerous cells.

Normal cells, when exposed to the vinegar, keep white for nearly five minutes but when abnormal cells take in the vinegar, they lose their whiteness between ninety seconds and two minutes.

This then allows diagnosticians to detect the precancerous and cancerous cells much more quickly as the cells nearly ‘jump’ out right away, reducing the likelihood that the cancer will mature and be harder to remove.

The procedure to remove esophageal cancer is a lengthy and risky procedure. Being able to detect and remove this type of cancer at earlier and earlier stages will save time and lives.

Prof Pradeep discovered what would become the procedure in 2004, while in Japan. He saw vinegar used in laboratories to help identify cancer cells, as is sometimes common practice in some third-world and other countries.

Cancer of the esophagus is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in men.

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