The new technology is capable of detecting 17 different diseases from a single breath, researchers say.
According to a recent study published in the ACS Nano, the new device can detect whether a person has certain diseases with staggering 86% accuracy. The diseases include multiple sclerosis, Parkinson`s disease, kidney disease, and certain cancers.
The device differentiates between the diseases due to its ability to pick on volatile organic compounds which are released by diseases in a person`s breath. The researchers say that the 17 diseases resulted in 13 unique compounds being emitted, each with their own, specific pattern.
“Each disease has its own unique breathprint,” the study says — and that unique signature distinguishes it from other diseases and a healthy subject.
Regardless of whether you know it or not, the body releases certain compounds in the breath when you have a disease.
The Na-Nose
The Na-Nose was tested by using breath samples from about 1,400 people and it managed to diagnose 9 in 10 times accurately. What`s more, the presence of one disease didn’t stop the device from diagnosing an additional disease, if any.
As explained by Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, this device can determine “whether the patient is healthy or has a disease, and to predict who are the healthy people who have a high risk to get the disease in the future.”
He points out that detecting diseases earlier is yet another potential benefit of the device, meaning that it increases the chance of survival for those with diseases like cancer. As a matter of fact, Haick believes that Na-Nose can increase the survival rates from 10-70% for lung cancer alone.
Use Breath As a Diagnostic Device
“Breath is an excellent raw material for diagnosis,” Haick stated. “It is available without the need for invasive and unpleasant procedures, it’s not dangerous, and you can sample it again and again if necessary.”
The idea of using breath to detect disease isn’t new. Namely, a team of researchers has worked on such tests for disease like cystic fibrosis and tuberculosis. In the case of cystic fibrosis, the test used the fact that patients “produce nearly four times as much acetic acid (the base chemical in vinegar) as healthy people.”
Who would have thought that diagnosing a disease could be as simple as breathing into a device? After all, it seems that people in ancient times knew what they were doing as doctors used to sniff patient`s poop to determine the health problem.
As stated by Haick, the Na-Nose has been used on many patients since the trial, and he hopes that it will be available on the market in the near future. He also notes that the device could be incorporated into everyday life, by adding it to a smartphone and anylizing the breath as the person talks on the phone.
Even if we feel healthy, “the device has much more sensitivity to feel whatever we don’t feel as healthy people,” Haick adds.
