Czech mass spectrometer may simplify diagnosing several diseases
Czech mass spectrometer may simplify diagnosing several diseases
The mass spectrometer developed by a Czech laboratory may considerably simplify the diagnosing of cystic fibrosis and the gastric reflux disease thanks to breath gas analysis, daily Hospodařské noviny (HN) writes today. The medical research team headed by Patrik Španěl has revealed that the spectrometer can identify cystic fibrosis (CF) based on hydrogen cyanide concentrations in the breath of the patient.
Until now, CF diagnosis has been done based on analyses of mucus samples taken from the throat. Cystic fibrosis, caused by gene mutations, critically affects the lungs and the digestive system. Hundreds of people suffer from it. On average, CF patients die at the age of 32, the paper writes. The new method was developed by Španěl and his colleagues Kseniya Dryahina and Violetta Shestivska, all from the Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the National Institute of Public Health and the Prague-Motol Teaching Hospital. Španěl, who originally studied reactions of ions and molecules in interstellar space, won a Czech subsidy for research into infection diagnosis by breath analysis in 2006.
Španěl’s team has also found out that the breath gas analysis may be used to diagnose the gastric reflux disease, from which up to one million people suffer in the CzechRepublic. These patients suffer from heartburn and often from chronic coughing caused by stomach acid coming up from the stomach into the esophagus.
The present endoscopic test to diagnose the reflux disease is very unpleasant, especially for children. They must have a fiber-optic scope in their throat for a whole day. If the spectrometer method could be used, the whole test would last only a few seconds, HN writes. “We are in fact looking for a hospital that would cooperate with us on this method so that we can try it on a higher number of patients,” Dryahina told the paper. The method might also be used in diagnosing Crohn syndrome, an inflammatory bowel disease.
The paper notes that the exhaled breath analysis is a new scientific area, which also focuses on lung cancer. Breath is as unique as a fingerprint, it adds. But Španěl’s mass spectrometer must still undergo clinical trials and examinations to prove its quality. Španěl says it may take a long time for his apparatus to be used by doctors, if ever.
The spectrometer costs approximately 5 million Kč.
The analysis of breath gases is attractive not only for medicine, but also for industry and the military. It can identify the presence of gases used as chemical weapons, HN writes. However, Španěl’s team is not interested in this line of research. “We worked on explosives detection issues, but we have quit it. The work for medicine and disease diagnosing seems more beneficial to us,” Dryahina said.
Read more: http://www.praguepost.com/technology/38434-hn-breakthrough-is-diagnosing-cystic-fibrosis#ixzz35eNNmRCh
