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Updated: Jun 10, 2025
Breath Collection from Children for Disease Biomarker Discovery
Published on: February 14, 2019
Early Diagnosis of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia with E-Nose: A Pilot Study in Preterm Infants
Laura Tenero1, Michele Piazza2, Marco Sandri2
1Pediatric Section, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, 37126 Verona, Italy.
Insights
An electronic nose (e-nose) can predict bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) risk in premature infants. This non-invasive breath analysis shows potential for early BPD identification, aiding clinical outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neonatology
- Respiratory Medicine
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a leading cause of respiratory morbidity and mortality in preterm infants.
- Early identification of BPD risk is crucial for timely intervention and improved outcomes.
- Current methods for BPD prediction lack specificity and timeliness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of an electronic nose (e-nose) for early prediction of BPD in mechanically ventilated very preterm infants.
- To analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as potential biomarkers for BPD.
- To assess the discriminative ability of e-nose breath prints for BPD development.
Main Methods:
- Pilot study involving 14 mechanically ventilated very preterm infants.
- Collection of clinical parameters and EBC within the first 24 hours of life.
- Analysis of EBC using an e-nose and pattern recognition with machine learning algorithms.
Main Results:
- E-nose analysis of breath prints significantly predicted the development of BPD versus no-BPD.
- Specific e-nose probes (S18, S24, S14, S6) showed significant predictive ability (AUCs ranging from 0.80 to 0.89).
- The e-nose demonstrated a promising AUC of 0.87 for predicting BPD outcomes.
Conclusions:
- The e-nose is a non-invasive, handheld device capable of rapid breath sampling.
- This pilot study suggests the e-nose has potential as an early predictive tool for BPD in preterm infants.
- Further research with larger cohorts is warranted to validate these findings.
Abstract:
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common respiratory disease in preterm and is still associated with increased mortality and morbidity. The great interest lies in identifying early biomarkers that can predict the development of BPD. This pilot study explores the potential of e-nose for the early identification of BPD risk in premature infants by analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC). Fourteen mechanically ventilated very preterm infants were included in this study. The clinical parameters and EBC were collected within the first 24 h of life. The discriminative ability of breath prints between preterms who did and did not develop BPD was investigated using pattern recognition, a machine learning algorithm, and standard statistical methods. We found that e-nose probes can significantly predict the outcome of "no-BPD" vs. "BPD". Specifically, a subset of probes (S18, S24, S14, and S6) were found to be significantly predictive, with an AUC of 0.87, 0.89, 0.82, 0.8, and p = 0.019, 0.009, 0.043, 0.047, respectively. The e-nose is an easy-to-use, handheld, non-invasive electronic device that quickly samples breath. Our preliminary study has shown that it has the potential for early prediction of BPD in preterms.
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