Detection volatile organic compounds in breath as markers of lung cancer using a novel electronic nose

Abstract

In this work we developed a novel electronic nose for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene derivatives and alkane derivatives in breath of lung cancer patients. This electronic nose employed capillary column GC and a pair of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. We applied Tedlar bags to collect exhaled air and calibration gas, and then solid phase micro extraction (SPME) as pre-concentrator to increase the sensitivity. Our novel electronic nose was calibrated by 9 VOCs separated in three concentrations. These VOCs are determined as the markers of lung cancer. We used artificial neural network (ANN) to recognize lung cancer patients.