Electronic Nose Device: Cancer is such a dangerous disease, which is known to most people at the last stage. Sometimes the condition worsens so much that even the treatment becomes ineffective. Like other diseases, the symptoms of cancer also emerge in the body, but we often ignore them thinking of it as a minor problem or saying that we do not understand the symptoms at all. Like other types of cancer, it is also difficult to identify lung cancer, but if we say that by just taking a breath it can be known whether you have lung cancer or not, then what will be your reaction? Of course, you must be shocked, but this thing is completely true.
Actually, doctors and researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have revealed this. Using a device called 'Electronic Nose' or 'E-Nose', researchers are trying to identify symptoms of lung cancer by Volatile Organic Compounds. 'Volatile Organic Compounds' are organic substances produced from a mixture of chemical elements.
The breath will tell whether there is a disease or not!
Dr Anant Mohan, head of the Center of Excellence in Breath Research at AIIMS, explains that whenever we exhale, we also release many compounds like alkanes and benzene. However, their composition varies from disease to disease and from person to person. Some of these volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be up-regulated in people who have lung cancer. While some of them may also be down-regulated. Different diseases will produce different patterns of these volatile organic compounds.
Device to detect lung cancer
However, when we recognize this pattern, we can detect the disease with the help of breath or exhaled breath through an e-nose. The E-Nose is equipped with several sensors to measure VOCs. Dr Mohan says that researchers are collecting VOCs from healthy people and those suffering from lung cancer and are also comparing those that can signal the disease. To detect lung cancer, a person just has to blow into the e-nose device i.e. exhale. Dr Mohan said that this device can help a lot in the early detection of lung cancer in developing countries like India because health facilities reach many people here late.
