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Updated: May 19, 2026
Real-time Breath Analysis by Using Secondary Nanoelectrospray Ionization Coupled to High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Published on: March 9, 2018
Detection of multiple sclerosis from exhaled breath using bilayers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and
Radu Ionescu1, Yoav Broza, Hila Shaltieli
1Department of Chemical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
Abstract:
A cross-reactive array of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and single wall carbon nanotube bilayers was designed for the detection of volatile organic compounds (tentatively, hexanal and 5-methyl-undecane) that identify the presence of disease in the exhaled breath of patients with multiple sclerosis. The sensors showed excellent discrimination between hexanal, 5-methyl-undecane, and other confounding volatile organic compounds. Results obtained from a clinical study consisting of 51 volunteers showed that the sensors could discriminate between multiple sclerosis and healthy states from exhaled breath samples with 85.3% sensitivity, 70.6% specificity, and 80.4% accuracy. These results open new frontiers in the development of a fast, noninvasive, and inexpensive medical diagnostic tool for the detection and identification of multiple sclerosis. The results could serve also as a launching pad for the discrimination between different subphases or stages of multiple sclerosis as well as for the identification of multiple sclerosis patients who would respond well to immunotherapy.
