A Pt/Pd-Decorated SnO₂-Based Electronic Nose for High-Precision Breath Analysis in Diagnosing SIBO

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Exhaled breath contains biomarkers for non-invasive disease diagnostics.
• Current small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) diagnosis methods lack specificity and sensitivity.
• A multi-gas analysis approach can provide a more comprehensive diagnostic profile.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a simplified electronic nose for multi-gas detection in breath.
• To enhance SIBO diagnosis accuracy using advanced sensing and machine learning.
• To compare the performance of the multi-gas platform against traditional methods.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a simplified Pt/Pd-SnO2 electronic nose with dual operating temperatures.
• Simultaneous monitoring of H2, CO, ethanol, and acetone in exhaled breath.
• Application of machine learning for signal processing and gas discrimination.
• Clinical validation using breath samples from SIBO patients and healthy individuals post-lactulose ingestion.

Main Results:

• The electronic nose achieved 93% classification accuracy and a mean squared error of 0.78 for gas concentration estimation.
• SIBO patients showed significantly elevated breath responses compared to healthy individuals (18.77 vs 4.91).
• The multi-gas platform demonstrated superior diagnostic potential over single-marker tests.

Conclusions:

• The developed multi-gas electronic nose offers a clinically validated, accurate, and non-invasive method for SIBO diagnosis.
• This platform enhances diagnostic capabilities by analyzing multiple biomarkers simultaneously.
• The system holds practical potential for improving SIBO detection in clinical practice.