A machine which has the potential to diagnose patients by sniffing their breath has begun work at Christchurch Hospital.
The 400kg research machine on wheels, known somewhat less than memorably as LDI2, was created by Christchurch-based Syft Technologies.
It is the first of four that will be installed at the hospital over the next four years thanks to a $4.8 million research grant from the Research Science and Technology Foundation.
The machines will be used for research into the diagnosis of illnesses as varied as asthma and food poisoning.
The LDI2 can analyse air samples for the presence of minute quantities of volatile organic compounds that potentially indicate illnesses that would otherwise require blood tests - or even surgery - to detect.
Syft medical projects chief co-ordinator Dr Randall Allardyce said tracking chemical markers on a person's breath could allow treatment to begin earlier, when there was a greater chance of success.
One of the first projects for the LDI2 would be to test the breath of intensive care patients for early indicators of kidney failure.
Currently this life-threatening condition could take days to become apparent, by which time it could be too late to treat.
Lead investigator Dr Geoff Shaw said intensive care patients had their heart and respiratory functions monitored continually.
"Given that kidney failure in the intensive care unit is associated with a death rate of 40 to 80 per cent, we need to be able to track kidney function with the same precision and timeliness."
It was hoped the LDI2 would also be able to detect pancreatic cancer, currently only diagnosed with the help of surgery that carried the risk of killing patients who did not have the cancer.
In this study, fluid near the pancreas would be extracted, put in a sealed vial and the air in the headspace tested for volatile organic compounds that could indicate cancer.
Syft sales and marketing manager Rebecca Bain said the LDI2 would also be used in health and safety research.
Operating theatre staff endured the strong smell of burnt flesh whenever wounds were cauterised.
The LDI2 would examine whether this strong aroma carried any toxic compounds requiring protective masks or air extractors to be used.
Ms Bain said breath research was not new, but the existing technology was either much slower or significantly less sensitive than the LDI2 and its commercial counterpart, the smaller Voice100.
The Voice100, launched in February, could detect chemicals in concentrations as low as several parts per billion.
Each machine cost between $350,000 and $450,000.
- NZPA
Hospital tests the wind with a snuffling diagnostic machine
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.