Researchers develop Breathalyzer (Breath analyzer) that can diagnose 17 Diseases with 86 % Accuracy

Researchers at the Israel institute of technology has developed a breathalyzer (Breath analyzer) that is capable of diagnose as many as 17 diseases that too with 86 % accuracy that included 8 types of cancers.

If you rewind history in ancient Greece doctors diagnosed patients by listening to deep stomach sounds Smelling their breath and even tasting their sweat. Hippocrates who is regarded as the father of medicine advised his students way back in 2000 A.D to smell their patient's breath to identify diseases. In the case of diabetes it is sweet smelling and in patients with kidney failure, it smelled like urine.

For any treatment to progress, diagnosis is the critical step. Early diagnosis is the key to ensures complete recovery of the patient as in many cases patients die since they approach the doctor in the later stages of the disease. Many of us neglect to undergo diagnosis keeping in mind of the expensive costs.  But diagnosis by breath analyzer costs are advised to undergo various tests which are costly but this diagnosis by breathalyzer costs you £24 that comes around Rs1700.

How it works?

It is well established that dogs are able to detect cancer by smelling a person.The breath analyzer adopts the same principle. Scientist used a 3D printed box containing gold nanoparticles. When the patient exhales the resistance of gold particles change depending on the chemicals in the breath.

If we compare with a dog analogy, the nose of dog gets replaced with chemical sensors and the device is equipped with a computer algorithm to interpret the results.

Researchers tested the device by analyzing the patient's breath over three years in five different countries that included U.S and Israel.

Also read: New Research Reveals that Patients treated by Female Doctors have More Chances of Survival

The 17 diseases tested include chronic kidney failure, two types of Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure in the arteries between the heart and lungs and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Breath analyser  was also used to find chemical signs of head and neck, lung, bowel, bladder, kidney, prostate, gastric and ovarian cancer.

Researchers carried the diagnosis in 1404 number of patients and the results found to be 86 %accurate. Although many breath analyzers have been developed before this is unique where it comes in handy to diagnose patients suffering from more than one disease.

Lead author professor Hossam Haik said that just as the finger prints of a person are unique similarly each disease has a unique breath print attributed to specific chemical components which form the basis of analysis.

The breathalyzer (breath analyzer) has already been licensed and expected to be available for doctors to use within 5 Years.

Source: mail online