Device detects respiratory ailments

Diagnosis takes about 40 minutes, compared with hours or days for X-rays.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have completed several studies that they say demonstrate the promise of a hand-held "electronic nose" for diagnosing pneumonia and sinusitis by analyzing a patient's exhaled breath.
The doctors, who are presenting their findings Thursday at a conference in Phoenix, believe that the e-nose device could make it faster, easier and cheaper to spot some respiratory diseases and, as a result, reduce unnecessary prescription of antibiotics.
Researchers say that another benefit is the speed of the device. The electronic proboscis takes about 40 minutes to complete its pneumonia test, while traditional X-ray and saliva tests can take hours or days.
Studies
Dr. C. William Hanson, III, a researcher and professor at Penn's medical school, used the nose to whiff air samples from the breathing tubes of people on ventilators to check for pneumonia, a frequent complication in such cases. In the two studies, the e-nose was 70 percent to 92 percent accurate in diagnosing ventilator-acquired pneumonia -- about the same accuracy as traditional tests, he said.
In the third study, led by Dr. Erica Thaler, the e-nose correctly diagnosed sinusitis cases in 82 percent of 22 patients -- half of whom were infected and half who weren't.
"The noninvasiveness of it is one of the real strengths here," she said. "And it allows physicians to make decisions about treatment in real-time."
The e-nose, dubbed the Cyranose 320 by its maker -- Cyrano Sciences Inc., which was recently purchased by a British defense contractor -- has not received Food and Drug Administration approval.
About the device
It is slightly larger than a cell phone, costs about $8,000 and has 32 pinhead-size receptors that can digitally analyze and identify a wide range of chemical signatures through its wand-shaped sniffer.
Point the snout, press a button to make it "sniff," and the machine takes the inhaled air and -- depending on what it's programmed to sniff out -- can potentially tell the user whether food is spoiled, a hazardous chemical exists or disease is present, according to its developers.
Dr. Norman H. Edelman, scientific consultant for the American Lung Association, said such research holds promise, but more studies with larger numbers of patients is needed before any conclusions can be made about the electronic nose technology's diagnostic skill. Each of the three studies involved fewer than 50 people.
"The principle is great. They're really in an excellent area of research, but it needs more work," he said. "There's no question that, especially in the intensive care unit, it would be very helpful, [but] the data that they present is not adequate enough to be definitive."
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