Device detects 17 different diseases just by patient's breath

Around 400 BC, Hippocrates advised his students to smell the breath of patients to determine whether they were sick. Now, researchers in the US have developed a system that can do it in a more scientific way.

A new analyzer uses nano-beams to precisely determine the chemical composition of a person’s breath, and can detect signs of any of 17 serious diseases, from kidney cancer to Parkinson’s.

Breath contains nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen as well as small amounts of more than 100 other chemicals, but the relative amounts of each vary depending on a person's health status.

Internet photo.

Published in ACS Nano, the scientists describe how they analyzed the results using artificial intelligence techniques to classify and diagnose conditions. They found that each disease produced a unique type of breath with unstable chemical properties, based on varying concentrations of 13 components.

They also point out that the presence of one disease does not preclude the detection of other diseases.

The technology allows for an inexpensive and portable breathalyser that costs just £24 and can detect a wide range of diseases without the need for invasive techniques.

“We discovered that each of us has a unique fingerprint, and each of the diseases we studied has a unique breath pattern, a ‘signature’ of chemical components,” said lead author Professor Hossam Haick. “We created a device that can differentiate between these breath patterns. It’s compact and affordable.”

In recent years, scientists have developed experimental breath analyzers, but most of them focus on a single disease, such as cancer.

According to TPO