ETH researchers could show that exhaled human breath
contains a characteristic molecular “fingerprint”. The scientists want to use
this finding to diagnose diseases based on the chemical analysis of patient's
exhaled breath, using highly sensitive and precise instrumental methods.
Bodily fluids contain lots of information about the health
status of a person. Medical doctors routinely have blood and urine analysed in
order to obtain hints for infectious and metabolic diseases, to diagnose cancer
and organ failure, and to check the dose of medication, based on compounds
present in these body fluids. Researchers at ETH Zurich and at the University
Hospital Zurich now propose to extend such analyses to breath, and in
particular to take advantage of modern high-resolution analytical methods that
can provide real-time information on the chemical composition of exhaled
breath.