More than 25 million people in the U.S. have asthma, but diagnosing it and figuring out what triggers it can be challenging, especially in young children. An “electronic nose” device being tested by a team at Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam aims to make the one-size-fits-all approach to asthma treatment a thing of the past.
The device, presented this weekend at the European Respiratory Society congress in Munich, analyzes a breath sample to differentiate between sub-groups of children with asthma. Experts think that understanding the characteristics of different types of asthma could pave the way for more personalized asthma treatment.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
In their recent study, the researchers examined the exhaled volatile compounds in 106 breath samples of children with asthma or wheezing and were able to identify five distinct sub-types, each with its own set of characteristics and symptoms. But the device, of course, will need more testing if it’s going to be used by physicians at the bedside.
Breath tests that doctors use now as part of the asthma diagnosis process are aimed at measuring air flow and lung function.
Breath biomarkers is an active field of research in other diseases, too, with teams looking at molecules in the breath to identify bacterial infections, prostate cancer and diabetes.
