Is Breath Analysis the Future of Medical Testing?

Scientists are building sophisticated electronic and chemical sniffers that examine the puffs of exhaled air for telltale signs of cancer, tuberculosis, asthma and other maladies, as well as for radiation exposure.

“There are clear signatures in the breath for liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease” and diseases of the lungs. The system is designed to work wherever there is an Internet connection.

Scientists are building sophisticated electronic and chemical sniffers that examine the puffs of exhaled air for telltale signs of cancer, tuberculosis, asthma and other maladies, as well as for radiation exposure.

“There are clear signatures in the breath for liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease” and diseases of the lungs. The system is designed to work wherever there is an Internet connection.

Its analyzers can detect compounds in the breath in concentrations of parts per trillion — a billion times more sensitive than breath analyzers used by the police to detect blood-alcohol concentrations

Medicare doesn’t pay for it.

Full NYT article.