Abstract
Background: Early diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) can improve patients’ outcome but is hampered by non-specific symptoms and investigations, which delay diagnosis and result in advanced stage disease [van Meerbeeck JP, 2011]. An accurate non-invasive test allowing early stage diagnosis in asbestos-exposed persons is lacking. Purpose/Objective: Breathomics aims at a non-invasive analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reflecting the cells’ metabolism. The breathogram obtained by the electronic nose does however, not allow identification of MPM-related VOCs [Chapman EA 2009, Dragonieri S 2011]. Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) combines the advantages of online direct sampling with the possibility of VOC identification and linking to MPM pathogenesis [Baumbach JI 2009]. We investigated which VOCs could play a role in MPM pathogenesis in order to build a possible diagnostic MPM tool. Materials and Methods: 10 MPM patients and 10 healthy professionally asbestos-exposed individuals were included after refraining from eating, drinking and smoking for at least 2 hours before sampling. They breathed tidally for 3 minutes through a mouthpiece connected to a bacteria filter. Ten ml alveolar air was sampled via a CO2-controlled ultrasonic sensor and analyzed using the BioScout Multicapillary Column/Ion Mobility Spectrometer (MCC/IMS, B&S Analytik, Dortmund, Germany) [Westhoff M 2009], by using N2 as a carrier gas. Per subject a background sample was taken. Peaks of interest were visually selected and their intensity (V) was analyzed and compared between background and breath samples via on-board VisualNow 3.2 software and SPSS v21 (IBM) using Mann-Whitney-U tests. Results:Out of 41 peaks of interest, three show a significantly higher intensity in the exhaled breath of MPM patients than healthy controls [Table]. The high AUCROC of resp. P12 (0.877) and P24 (0.863) suggests a possible role of these associated VOCs in MPM pathogenesis and as a diagnostic marker in discriminating MPM patients from asbestos-exposed healthy controls.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
