e-nose can sniff volatiles linked with heart failure

Click for abstract

Advancements in 'electronic-nose' technology are always of interest to the metabolic malodor community due to their possible use in the detection of metabolic body odor or halitosis in the future, as a means of sufferers monitoring their own condition, since most seem to have an anosmia to their own malodors. This research paper recently published tells of a electronic-nose device the group have developed to 'smell' heart failure from the volatiles emitted from the skin of someone who has heart failure.

Two particular points of interest to those with metabolic malodors is that the e-nose is detecting the odors from the skin rather than from breath, and that it detects 'volatiles', which is almost certainly the group of compounds that will make people have metabolic malodors. There is little information from the abstract but it seems like a development to watch.

Abstract
The human body odor contains different volatile organic compounds which can be used as biomarkers for various diseases. The early detection of heart failure (HF) through periodical screening provides an early treatment application. Therefore we have developed a completely new non-invasive method to identify HF applying an "electronic nose" (e-nose) which provides a "smelling" of the disease based on the analysis of sweat volatile gases from the skin surface. For this e-nose a special applicator carrying the sensor chip was developed which can be applied directly on the skin surface. 27 patients with decompensated HF (DHF), 25 patients with compensated HF (CHF, mean age 70.72 ± 12.02) and 28 controls (CON) were enrolled in this first pilot study.

Abstract : Smelling heart failure from human skin odor with an electronic nose.