Keele University
Welcome
to Keele Research
Research
Explore this Section
Breathing a sigh of relief
A revolutionary breath analysis machine is going on trial in a clinical environment for the first time. The invention of Professor David Smith and Professor Patrik Spanel from Keele University's Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, in Staffordshire, is a revolutionary technique known as SIFT-MS, which works by measuring trace gases or metabolites present in the breath.
It is so sensitive that it is capable of detecting a single molecule amid several billion molecules of air, infinitely more sensitive than a standard breathalyser used for alcohol testing.
The technique has two major advantages over other ways of diagnosing illnesses: it is non-invasive, the patient simply breathes into a tube, making it particularly useful in paediatric medicine; and the results are available online and in real time, so the doctor can get a read out immediately.
Professor Smith said: "The development of the instrumentation and technology has had to take place through the analysis of the breath of volunteers. This is a critical thing you have to do anyway but with a new building we now will have the facility to bring in patients, sick patients, in labs which are properly prepared to receive patients and then to do on line real time analysis on the breath and hopefully diagnose particular disease states."
And Professor Patrik Spanel added: "Already we can detect maybe 10 different metabolites present in breath of people like ammonia, asotome, isoprene, or some metabolites that are a clear marker of some disease like hydrogen cyanide and even these can actually serve as valuable markers of various conditions when they are elevated outside the normal range."
Said Professor Smith: "The two main areas that our resident paediatricians in this area are interested in are asthma and cystic fibrosis in young people. So what we'll be doing now with a new facility here to bring the children in and to look at the breath metabolites online and in real time and to look for molecules that are indicative of these diseases. The idea being that if you can do that simply and non-invasively you can monitor therapy. You can give them the appropriate drug for therapy and watch whether or not the disease is diminishing. This is the essential point about doing these tests now with this instrumentation online, it’s straightforward, it’s non-invasive."
While clinical use is still in the early stages, breath analysis devices could be seen in every GP's surgery, as a standard means of diagnosis.
See the diagnostic technique in operation (YouTube link)
