Geographical variation in the exhaled volatile organic compounds.

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Medical Diagnostics
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Breath-gas analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) shows potential for disease detection, including gastric cancer (GC) and peptic ulcer disease (PUD).
• Geographical variations may influence the chemical composition of exhaled breath, affecting diagnostic accuracy in international cohorts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of geographical variation on disease-specific VOC profiles in breath samples.
• To compare breath VOC patterns for gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease between Chinese and Latvian patient cohorts.

Main Methods:

• Collected alveolar exhaled breath samples from 260 patients (37 GC, 32 PUD, 61 controls) across China and Latvia.
• Matched cohorts for diagnosis, age, gender, and smoking habits; analyzed samples using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
• Investigated Helicobacter Pylori infection prevalence in all groups at both locations.

Main Results:

• Observed similar characteristic differences in breath VOC profiles between study groups at both locations, despite differing exact compositions.
• Distinguished GC patients from controls by 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one levels in both China and Latvia.
• Differentiated PUD patients from controls via aromatic compounds and alcohols; GC and PUD were not distinguishable at either site.

Conclusions:

• Chemical breath-gas analysis based on individual VOC profiles has limitations for identifying gastric diseases in international cohorts.
• Disease-specific classes of exhaled VOCs may offer a more universally applicable diagnostic approach.
• Further research is needed to develop robust, pattern-based breath analysis for global disease diagnostics.