Medicine is advancing a lot, but so is the way to detect diseases, and every day more and more people are looking for ways to do it quickly and non-invasively. And one way of doing it is by smell.
Humans have a poorly developed sense of smell, and many animals far outweigh us. But what we cannot do, sensors specialized in detecting certain odors can do.
And sensors are developing faster and faster every day; especially with the help of nanotechnology and information technology, with increasingly powerful processors, with better Artificial Intelligence, etc...
I just read the abstract of an article in the IEEE Sensors Journal which refers to a sensor capable of detecting a person's blood glucose level. In other words, a person with diabetic problems.
For those who do not know, there are more than 400 million people with different types of diabetes in the world, and they need to measure the glucose levels in their body several times a day. Currently they do so by taking samples of their blood more or less periodically, and applying the necessary insulin.
It is true that glucose measurement methods have advanced a lot, and today there are sensors placed on the skin (as seen in the photo), which provide the data both to a mobile phone and to an insulin pump that the patient has connected, and injects the necessary insulin.
The new method they have published consists of "smelling" the patient's breath and detecting the level of glucose in his blood. It is an electronic nose that is commonly called an “e-nose”, and this “nose” contains 12 chemical detectors and a computer.
Glucose does not emit an odor on our breath, but acetone does and its concentration in our breath does, and acetone can be related to the level of glucose we have in the body. And with the 12 chemical sensors of this new e-nose, the device is capable of indicating the level of glucose in the blood with an accuracy level greater than 90%.
They have tested a few dozen people to characterize the "nose" software and make it more accurate. And now they have to design a specific “chip” that makes the device compact and cheap.
Considering the millions of potential users they have, I guess it won't cost them much to lower production costs.
I love this idea because it helps and greatly simplifies the detection of diseases. And above all, it does it in a non-invasive way. And that is why many e-noses are being developed to detect other odors and diseases. It is an interesting and promising field.
With a bit of humor and letting our imagination run wild a bit, we can have an image of someone who goes to the doctor in about 30 years, so that the doctor "smells" him using a special device and tells him what disease he has.
Things of the future? Who knows ?
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