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Review
. 2023 Aug;46(4):100623.
doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2023.100623. Epub 2023 Jun 17.

Breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as biomarkers for the diagnosis of pathological conditions: A review

Pedro Catalão Moura  1 , Maria Raposo  2 , Valentina Vassilenko  3
Affiliations
Review

Breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as biomarkers for the diagnosis of pathological conditions: A review

Pedro Catalão Moura et al. Biomed J. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Normal and abnormal/pathological status of physiological processes in the human organism can be characterized through Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emitted in breath. Recently, a wide range of volatile analytes has risen as biomarkers. These compounds have been addressed in the scientific and medical communities as an extremely valuable metabolic window. Once collected and analysed, VOCs can represent a tool for a rapid, accurate, non-invasive, and painless diagnosis of several diseases and health conditions. These biomarkers are released by exhaled breath, urine, faeces, skin, and several other ways, at trace concentration levels, usually in the ppbv (μg/L) range. For this reason, the analytical techniques applied for detecting and clinically exploiting the VOCs are extremely important. The present work reviews the most promising results in the field of breath biomarkers and the most common methods of detection of VOCs. A total of 16 pathologies and the respective database of compounds are addressed. An updated version of the VOCs biomarkers database can be consulted at: https://neomeditec.com/VOCdatabase/.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Breath sampling; Exhaled breath; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds.

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Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Number of scientific articles published per year during the last twenty years regarding the field of volatile organic compounds as breath biomarkers to the diagnosis of health conditions; (B) Treemap of the percentual value of the number of papers addressing specific pathologies in the field of volatile organic compounds as biomarkers in the exhaled breath. Data was collected from the scientific database “web of science”.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic of a generic Gas Sensors Array-based system for breath analysis.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Schematic of Gas Chromatography (GC) measurements.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Schematic of a generic measurement with Mass Spectrometry (MS).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Schematic of a generic measurement by Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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