A prototype that aims to identify the presence of the disease starting from a urine sample, through the recognition of specific volatile molecules
Don’t expect the classic and nice wet “truffle” of a dog that sniffs you, in a digital version. For now, the “electronic nose” developed by Humanitas and the Milan Polytechnic occupies an entire desk. It’s about a prototype intended to identify the presence of prostate cancer starting from a urine sample, through the recognition of specific volatile molecules.
Encouraging data
To read the data of a study published in theInternational Journal of Urologyin which the effectiveness of the device was tested, the premises seem encouraging: the test correctly identifies the presence of the tumor in sick patients in 85.2% of cases and it is correctly negative in healthy patients in 79.1% of cases. Not only. The prototype has further significant elements rCompared to the traditional biopsy method: the latter in fact, in addition to being an invasive examination, has a false negative rate quite high in early stage tumors, due to the fact that it allows only a small portion of the organ to be removed and analyzed.
I study
The study to test the new technology was conducted from March 2020 to March 2021 in Humanitas Mater Domini, in Castellanza (Varese), and at the Irccs Humanitas Clinical Institute in Rozzano. The project, called «Diag-Nose»involved 174 people, divided into two groups: 88 patients with prostate cancer of different grades and stages of progressionconfirmed by positive histological examination, and 86 people from the control group, composed of female subjects or men of different ages but without familiarity with the disease and with negative visits and tests (including the PSA, i.e. the specific prostate antigen). For each person it was then a urine sample was collected and analyzed in the laboratories of Professor Laura Capelli at the Department of Materials Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
The advantages over the biopsy
«Prostate biopsy it is today the gold standard for the diagnosis of cancer of this gland. Despite the greater precision that today the examination has achieved thanks to the use of magnetic resonance images in guiding tissue sampling, the
L tumor detection rate reaches 48.5% at most. A significantly lower percentage than that of the electronic nose which, in addition to greater diagnostic accuracy, would limit the discomfort and complications for the patient», he explains Gianluigi Tavernapromoter of the study, head of Urology of Humanitas Mater Domini and doctor-researcher of the Irccs Humanitas Clinical Institute.
Reproduction of the canine sense of smell
The electronic nose is the evolution of a much larger study conducted since 2012 by Humanitas with the collaboration of the Military Veterinary Center of Grosseto (Cemivet) and sponsored by the Defense General Staff. This research revealed how dogs, duly trainedare able to recognize prostate cancer by smelling the urine of sick people, in particular specific volatile organic compounds technically called VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). The electronic nose developed within the Diag-Nose project is therefore a prototype born from reproduction of the canine sense of smellachieved thanks to a series of sensors capable of analyzing the volatile substances released into the air by urine samples.
The multicenter study and miniaturization
This is not the first attempt to develop an «e-nose» (electronic nose) in the medical field. The first device had arrived in Italy in 2014, used at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. «All the studies published so far, however, have been performed on very small numbers of participants and they always stopped in the preclinical phase», explains the urologist. «In April instead we will start a multi-center study of 1,000 patients that will last for a year. If the results are confirmed, we will be able to think about an industrialization phase through a start-up that we are already organizing». At that point, the goal will be to miniaturize the e-nose to make it work even plugged into a smartphone.
January 8, 2023 (change January 8, 2023 | 3:58 pm)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
#electronic #nose #diagnose #prostate #cancer