Infrared spectroscopic electronic noses: an innovative approach for exhaled breath sensing

Gastric cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, requiring the urgent development of innovative diagnostic tools for early detection. This study presents an integrated infrared spectroscopic electronic nose system, a novel device that combines infrared (IR) spectroscopy and electronic nose (eNose) concepts for analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath. This system was calibrated using relevant gas mixtures and then tested during a feasibility study involving 26 gastric cancer patients and 32 healthy controls using chemometric analyses to distinguish between exhaled breath profiles. The obtained results demonstrated that the integration of IR spectroscopy and eNose technologies significantly enhanced the accuracy of VOCs fingerprinting via principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Distinct differences between the study groups were revealed with an accuracy of prediction of 0.96 in exhaled breath samples. This combined system offers a high sensitivity and specificity and could potetially facilitate rapid on-site testing rendering the technology an accessible option for early screening particularly in underserved populations.