Breathomics, A Promising Molecular Tool For Oral Cancer Screening In Sudan

Objectives: Background : Breathomic is a new, non-invasive method for disease detection based on specific patterns of volatile organic compounds present in the exhaled air. Due to its low costs and simple logistics, this method holds the promise for being developed into a tool for disease screening in developing countries.
Aim: To determine if electronic nose modules with a patented on-board temperature control can be used for detection of oral cancer in the settings of Sudan, a developing country where oral cancer poses a major burden of disease.
Methods: An e-nose device (Aenose Company, Zutphen, Nederlands) was used to collect samples of exhaled breath from oral cancer patients (n=70) and clinically healthy volunteers matched for age and gender at Khartoum Dental Teaching Hospital, Sudan. The samples were analyzed using an artificial neural network for generation of an oral cancer-specific profile for Sudanese patients.
Results: A specific breath volatile organic compounds pattern for Sudanese patients has been developed. Oral cancer patients could be differentiated from normal clinically healthy volunteers with a diagnostic accuracy of 81 % .
Conclusions: The e-nose technique using double cross-validation was able to discriminate between oral cancer patients and healthy controls in the hospital settings of Sudan. This method should be further tested on a larger scale for use as a screening tool for detection of oral cancer.