An electronic nose was used to study the patterns of faecal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children with IBD. Children with newly diagnosed IBD were assessed at baseline and upon achieving remission at 6-weeks follow-up. Analysis of these VOC patterns was able to discriminate patients with IBD from controls during active disease and remission, and was also able to discriminate Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis. The researchers hope that this test could be useful for the noninvasive diagnosis and assessment of IBD, particularly in paediatric patients.
References
de Meij, T. G. J. et al. Faecal gas analysis by electronic nose as novel, non-invasive method for assessment of active and quiescent paediatric inflammatory bowel disease: proof of principle study. J. Crohn's Colitis 10.1016/j.crohns.2014.09.004
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Sniffing out paediatric IBD. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 11, 702 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2014.192
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2014.192
