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Easy to use breath test could detect diabetes

Researchers have developed a sensor that uses the breath to instantly tell if a patient has Type 1 diabetes. The device is easy to use and could help emergency room physicians diagnose patients who experience diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous complication of high blood sugar levels. The breath test that can detect diabetes could also someday be used by patients in the home, making finger sticks to check blood sugar levels a thing of the past.

Patients with high levels of acetone in the bloodstream – something that occurs from the breakdown of fat when not enough insulin is present in the body – exhale high amounts of the chemical. Scientists have built an extremely sensitive breath detector to diagnose patients with Type 1 diabetes who may have accumulated a dangerous buildup of acetone that can lead to coma and even death.

Professor Sotiris E. Pratsinis and colleagues at ETH Zurich in Switzerland developed the breath test to detect diabetes rapidly, using ceramic nanoparticles placed between a set of gold electrodes that acts like an electrical resistor.

When diabetics breathe into the sensor and high levels of acetone are present, resistance drops, allowing air to pass through the sensor, allowing physicians to diagnose diabetes instantly with the breath test that could be used at the bedside or even at home to tell patients if they need more insulin.

The researchers say the non invasive test for diabetes “may offer a portable and cost-effective alternative to more bulky systems for noninvasive diabetes detection by human breath.”

The easy to use breath test that can detect diabetes quickly is extremely sensitive. The researchers say it can detect acetone in extremely moist air – a factor that is critical for accuracy. The breath test for diabetes can detect 20 parts per billion of acetone, is low cost, and could replace more expensive and invasive systems for diabetes detection.

ACS Publications

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