The diagnosis in one breath. Screening for tumors and serious diseases will be possible in the near future by blowing into a tube, similar to that of an alcohol test, with responses in a few minutes. This is the objective of the research being carried out by the PolySense Laboratory of the inter-university Physics Department of the Aldo Moro University of Bari and of the Polytechnic of Bari, the only Physics Department in Southern Italy to be awarded by the Ministry of the University with the qualification of Department of Excellence 2023-2027.
Already today, some trained dogs are able to detect colorectal cancer by smell, with a sensitivity of up to 99%. Researchers from the inter-university Physics Department of UniBa and PoliBa want to match, through optical sensors and artificial intelligence, the sensitivity and specificity of the dog's sense of smell with systems that also add the standardization of detection.
The laboratory, directed by Vincenzo Spagnolo, highlights a note, “is an international excellence in sensors and a world hub in the design of a sensor based on compact optical spectroscopy, portable and potentially usable even by unqualified personnel, who, through breath analysis, will monitor the recurring presence of certain combinations of volatile organic compounds (Vocs) in order to diagnose the presence of various pathologies and tumors, giving an answer in a few minutes. Within a year, this is the ambition of the researchers at the PolySense laboratories who are working tirelessly on the project, a prototype of this sensor will be available which can be tested in hospitals and could be placed on the market in the near future, thus making it possible to carry out mass screening with a simple breath”.
“Compared to the breath analysis sensors already available today – the researchers underline – the new machine will provide results much more quickly (with results available in 5 minutes instead of the current typical 1-2 hours); the screening can be carried out anywhere and not necessarily in the laboratory (so for example in the gazebos of the pharmacies set up for Covid swabs, on the ASL food trucks during prevention campaigns), and it can also be done by unqualified personnel”.
How the exam works
How will it work? “Thanks to artificial intelligence, after the patient has blown into a tube (exactly as happens for the alcohol test) – they illustrate – the machine will be able to detect the possible presence of certain patterns of molecules cataloged as indicators of the presence of pathologies and measure the concentration of related VOCs in the breath. A simple traffic light-type response system can be used, which will indicate whether or not the need for second-level diagnostic investigations is necessary.”
Because breathing provides information
“Endogenous VOCs are found in the breath, produced by metabolic processes that originate in organs and tissues present in the various parts of the body. Regardless of where they are produced, through the blood and cardiovascular circulation the VOCs reach the lungs and are then exhaled.The study and monitoring of these VOCs in human breath represents a new field of biomedicine called 'breathomics', which therefore analyzes the molecular composition of breathing and its modifications induced by the presence of diseases. The new sensor being studied by the Physics Department of Bari will be a rapid tool capable of allowing mass screening to turn these studies into reality”, relaunches the note from the UniBa-PoliBa inter-university department.
“The inter-university Physics Department of the University of Bari confirms itself once again as a place of cutting-edge knowledge – concludes the director of the department, Roberto Bellotti – which stimulates new scientific discoveries, the proliferation of ideas and gives impetus to Southern Italy to establish itself as an excellence not only in our country, but also at an international level”.
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