Breath or Urine Analysis May Indicate Disease

A sensor is being developed that will be able to analyze a patient's breath or urine to determine whether the patient has breast cancer, lung cancer, diabetes, or asthma.

The sensor device, known as the optofluidic ring resonator (OFRR), is an optical gas sensor that consists of a polymer-lined glass tube that guides the flow of a gas vapor, and a ring resonator that detects the molecules that pass through the glass tube. As the gas vapor enters the device, molecules in the vapor separate and react to the polymer lining. Light makes thousands of loops around the gas or liquid sample. The more the light loops around the sample, the more the light energy interacts with the gas vapor. These repetitive interactions enable the detection of a very small number of vapor molecules.

The device is being developed by Professor Xudong "Sherman" Fan, a University of Missouri (Columbia, MO, USA) scientist. It will analyze breath or urine samples for volatile markers inside the body that indicate disease. The markers, such as alkanes, acetones, or nitric oxide, give doctors information about what is happening inside the body and can be used as a diagnostic tool.

"Little traces of certain gas molecules in the breath or urine tell us if anything unusual is going on in the body," said Professor Fan. "Measuring these volatile markers would be a noninvasive way to determine if a disease is present without having to draw blood or complete a biopsy. In addition to the biomarkers already discovered, many more potential volatile markers are still under investigation."

Optical gas sensors have broad applications in the fields of medical care, industry, military, environment, and homeland security. In addition to OFRR's application in the medical industry, the device also can improve the detection of explosives on the battlefield. Currently, the existing gas vapor sensor technology is very bulky with equipment weighing more than 100 pounds and is difficult to use in the field.

"We hope to design a vapor sensor that has ultra-high sensitivity, specific and rapid response to a certain molecule, as well as the ability of on-the-spot chemical analyses, which usually requires the sensor to be small, portable, reusable, and have less power consumption," said Professor Fan.

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