Glucose Monitoring with Breath Analysis
New research findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences reveal that a chemical analysis test of exhaled breath may be able to warn diabetic patients when their sugar becomes too high.
The research team from the University of California at Irvine used a chemical analysis method that was originally created for air pollution testing. Evaluation of the level of air pollution included calculation of trace gases over the part-per-billion range that are associated with atmospheric pollution.
Ten pediatric patients with Type I diabetes completed breath analysis testing, with a total of 18 different assessments. To evaluate the correlation of between methyl nitrate concentration and blood glucose, the researchers started testing when patients spontaneously became hyperglycemic. Air samples were then periodically collected as the researchers delivered insulin and glucose to the patients to normalize blood sugar.
Approximately one hundred different breath samples were analyzed; specifically examining the concentration of over one hundred different gases at the parts-per-trillion level. Methyl nitrate exhalation concentration is positively correlated with glucose in the children studied. When the patients were hyperglycemic, the concentration of those gases was almost ten times higher.
This initial report indicates that breath analysis may become a non-invasive means to assess the glucose levels of diabetic patients. In the meantime, the research team is considering other gases that may be implicated during hyperglycemia. The team’s goal is to develop a complete exhaled gas profile for diabetes.
Breath analysis research is underway for a number of different conditions, but no clinical tests have been developed at this point. Ongoing research is evaluating the methodology for cystic fibrosis and ulcers, according to one of the members of the research team from Irvine.
September 28, 2007 Related topics: New Technology & Innovation, Diagnostic