Breath volatile organic compound analysis: an emerging method for gastric cancer detection

Abstract

Gastric cancer is a common malignancy, being the fifth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Diagnosis of gastric cancer at the early stage is critical to effectively improve the survival rate. However, a substantial proportion of patients with gastric cancer in the early stages lack specific symptoms or are asymptomatic. Moreover, the imaging techniques currently used for gastric cancer screening, such as computed tomography and barium examination, are usually radioactive and have low sensitivity and specificity. Even though endoscopy has high accuracy for gastric cancer screening, its application is limited by the invasiveness of the technique. Breath analysis is an economic, effective, easy to perform, non-invasive detection method, and has no undesirable side effects on subjects. Extensive worldwide research has been conducted on breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which reveals its prospect as a potential method for gastric cancer detection. Many interesting results have been obtained and innovative methods have been introduced in this subject; hence, an extensive review would be beneficial. By providing a comprehensive list of breath VOCs identified by gastric cancer would promote further research in this field. This review summarizes the commonly used technologies for exhaled breath analysis, focusing on the application of analytical instruments in the detection of breath VOCs in gastric cancers, and the alterations in the profile of breath biomarkers in gastric cancer patients are discussed as well.

Identification of lung cancer breath biomarkers based on perioperative breathomics testing: A prospective observational study

“…Previous studies have confirmed the capability of these breath VOCs in diagnosing esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. 10 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 Regardless of the distance of the organ where produced, VOCs can be transported by the blood to the lungs and exhaled during breathing. It seems that these reported VOCs may be cancer-specific but not lung cancer-specific.…”

Volatolomics in healthcare and its advanced detection technology

“…VOCs are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature, i.e., low boiling points roughly in the range of 50 to 250 °C [15][16][17]. Most VOCs have unique odors [12,18,19].…”

A Panel of Bile Volatile Organic Compounds Servers as a Potential Diagnostic Biomarker for Gallbladder Cancer

“…There is increasing interest in the application of VOCs in exhaled breath for diagnosing a variety of cancers ( 17 , 18 ). Since VOCs exist in the form of steam, a large number of compounds enter into a gaseous state.…”