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Updated: May 14, 2026

Fruit Volatile Analysis Using an Electronic Nose
Published on: March 30, 2012
Smelling heart failure from human skin odor with an electronic nose
1University of Applied Sciences Jena, Department of Medical Engineering and Biotechnology, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany. andreas.voss@fh-jena.de
Abstract:
The human body odor contains different volatile organic compounds which can be used as biomarkers for various diseases. The early detection of heart failure (HF) through periodical screening provides an early treatment application. Therefore we have developed a completely new non-invasive method to identify HF applying an "electronic nose" (e-nose) which provides a "smelling" of the disease based on the analysis of sweat volatile gases from the skin surface. For this e-nose a special applicator carrying the sensor chip was developed which can be applied directly on the skin surface. 27 patients with decompensated HF (DHF), 25 patients with compensated HF (CHF, mean age 70.72 ± 12.02) and 28 controls (CON) were enrolled in this first pilot study.
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