Anything that makes testing for esophageal cancer easier and more accessible gets my vote! Somehow swallowing a sponge tethered to a string doesn't conjure warm and fuzzy images. Undoubtedly there's advantages of speed, cost and convenience to the test, encouraging doctors and patients to proceed with a test.
My uncle, two close friends and my GP's nurse of fifteen years all developed esophageal cancer. Only one close friend survived. Talk about a silent killer. My uncle was the only smoker and all were well educated, two worked with doctors and every single one of them were discovered at stage four.
CFer's who don't need to be examined with occasional upper endoscopy or colonoscopy probably should be on some schedule for these exams. CF is hard on the GI tract and a baseline upper and lower scope isn't a bad idea.
Here's hoping the test is a hit!
LL