VOCs are small molecular mass compounds that have a high vapor pressure and a low boiling point.This, in turn, allows for their detection and measurement in exhaled breath. They are produced by every living organism and they are believed to reflect metabolic processes at the tissue level such as inflammation and oxidative stress. They can be measured not only on exhaled air, but on a wide range of human matrices such as blood, urine, feces, pleural effusions, and cell lines among others.
To date more than 3,000 VOCs have been identified that could be related to cancer.But, while there might be some that vary more than others in a pathological state, no single VOC can stand as a specific biomarker for disease prediction. Rather, a selection of VOCs needs to be used for enhancing sensitivity.
FTIR detects the presence of analyteprofiles thatare associated with Cancer inthe exhaled breath.
Our machine-learning algorithms compute vast and complex data at the molecular level for biomarker identification.