Di Gilio A., Palmisani J., Catino A., Galetta D., Varesano N., Porcelli F., Gigante A., Santoro M., Altomare D., de Gennaro G.
Chemical characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in human breath and the identification of a characteristic metabolite pattern is to date recognized as non-invasive and promising methodological approach alternative to traditional diagnostic exams for early detection and follow-up of oncologic diseases. VOC composition in exhaled breath reflects the volatile composition of the bloodstream and airways, therefore able to provide information about human metabolic status allowing a discrimination between healthy and sick clinical conditions due to an instantaneous equilibrium established between the bloodstream and the alveoli air in the lung. Despite the promising outcomes obtained by the scientific community over the last decades, breath analysis is still far from being applied as a routine clinical technique. This it due to the lack of standardized procedures for sampling and analysis that guarantee good repeatability and comparability of experimental results at all the methodology-levels. For decades the most applied methodology was based on the collection of human samples through polymeric bags but nowadays innovative devices (e.g., Mistral) for the automatic collection of exhaled breath-VOCs directly onto sorbent tubes have been developed and launched onto the market. The excursus of the promising outcomes obtained in terms of identification of breath VOCs pattern for the discrimination between patients affected by oncologic diseases (i.e., lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma and colorectal cancer) and healthy controls is herein explored, highlighting the achievements on the methodological approach and data treatment and underlying the limitations to overcome as well as challenges for the future.
