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. 2023 Apr 20;23(1):134.
doi: 10.1186/s12890-023-02407-6.

Diagnostic performance of eNose technology in COVID-19 patients after hospitalization

B F M van Raaij  1 , J D Veltman  2 , J F Hameete  3 , J L Stöger  4 , J J M Geelhoed  3
Affiliations

Diagnostic performance of eNose technology in COVID-19 patients after hospitalization

B F M van Raaij et al. BMC Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Background: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by human cells reflect metabolic and pathophysiological processes which can be detected with the use of electronic nose (eNose) technology. Analysis of exhaled breath may potentially play an important role in diagnosing COVID-19 and stratification of patients based on pulmonary function or chest CT.

Methods: Breath profiles of COVID-19 patients were collected with an eNose device (SpiroNose) 3 months after discharge from the Leiden University Medical Centre and matched with breath profiles from healthy individuals for analysis. Principal component analysis was performed with leave-one-out cross validation and visualised with receiver operating characteristics. COVID-19 patients were stratified in subgroups with a normal pulmonary diffusion capacity versus patients with an impaired pulmonary diffusion capacity (DLCOc < 80% of predicted) and in subgroups with a normal chest CT versus patients with COVID-19 related chest CT abnormalities.

Results: The breath profiles of 135 COVID-19 patients were analysed and matched with 174 healthy controls. The SpiroNose differentiated between COVID-19 after hospitalization and healthy controls with an AUC of 0.893 (95-CI, 0.851-0.934). There was no difference in VOCs patterns in subgroups of COVID-19 patients based on diffusion capacity or chest CT.

Conclusions: COVID-19 patients have a breath profile distinguishable from healthy individuals shortly after hospitalization which can be detected using eNose technology. This may suggest ongoing inflammation or a common repair mechanism. The eNose could not differentiate between subgroups of COVID-19 patients based on pulmonary diffusion capacity or chest CT.

Keywords: Breath analysis; COVID-19; Electronic nose technology; Follow-up.

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Conflict of interest statement

The SpiroNose (electronic nose device) was partly sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim for use within the department of Pulmonary Diseases. This company had no role in study design, data collection and analysis or preparation of this manuscript. This conflict applies to the author JJM. The other authors have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(a) PCA plot comparing breath profiles of COVID-19 patients after hospitalization and healthy individuals. (b) Receiver operating characteristic curve of principal component analysis. AUC = Area under the curve
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(a) PCA plot comparing breath profiles of COVID-19 patients with normal lung diffusion capacity and impaired diffusion capacity (defined as DLCOc < 80% of predicted). (b) Receiver operating characteristic curve of principal component analysis. AUC = Area under the curve
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
(a) PCA plot comparing breath profiles of COVID-19 patients with normal CT and abnormal CT (defined as presence of at least one of the following distinctive findings: parenchymal consolidation, ground-glass opacities (GGO), reticulation, bronchiectasis and curvilinear bands). (b) Receiver operating characteristic curve of principal component analysis. AUC = Area under the curve
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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