Robots with the ability to “sniff” hidden illnesses, surprising ones like cancer, by smelling a person’s breath could make disease detection easier in the future.
Researchers are looking for methods to identify diseases by analyzing chemical compounds in patients’ breath, sweat, and even tears. According to experts, these chemicals act as diagnostic “fingerprints.”
Researchers explain that the robot will never be made commercially available and refer to the idea as “volatolomics.”
The nose comes into contact with volatile organic compounds, which have a low boiling point and quickly evaporate when we smell anything. These are the metabolic byproducts of the human body that can be expelled in one way or another.
For a variety of reasons, including communication, reproduction, and even defense, all organisms release VOCs. Similar to how it does when it becomes ill, the body also releases VOCs in response to biological changes.
A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by a team of Dutch researchers revealed that electronic noses (e-noses) have a high level of diagnostic accuracy for the detection of cancer in exhaled breath.
Exhaled breath samples can be analyzed using GC-MS, which combines gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.
One study, for instance, claimed that ovarian cancer has specific markers.
52 publications that included more than 3,000 cancer patients were analyzed for the review article on Hospital Healthcare Europe. These publications included patients with lung, gastric, breast, and prostate cancers.
Scientists claim that although volatolomics is a recent concept, the idea has been around for centuries. But back then, there was no technology available for experimentation.
Scientists can put their knowledge to use with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Nanomaterial sensors, for example, can detect VOC fingerprints in food, beverages, pollution, and people.
The findings were published in Nano Research and Hospital Healthcare Europe.
