©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2019; 25(30): 4043-4050
Published online Aug 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i30.4043
Published online Aug 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i30.4043
Exhaled breath analysis in hepatology: State-of-the-art and perspectives
Antonio De Vincentis, Umberto Vespasiani-Gentilucci, Raffaele Antonelli-Incalzi, Antonio Picardi, Unit of Clinical Medicine and Hepatology, Unit of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, Rome 00128, Italy
Anna Sabatini, Unit of Electronics for sensor systems, Department of Engineering, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Rome 00128, Italy
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to writing and revising this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Corresponding author: Antonio De Vincentis, MD, Medical Assistant, Unit of Clinical Medicine and Hepatology, Unit of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, via Alvaro del Portillo, 200, Rome 00128, Italy. a.devincentis@unicampus.it
Telephone: +39-06-225411445
Received: April 28, 2019
Peer-review started: April 28, 2019
First decision: May 24, 2019
Revised: June 11, 2019
Accepted: June 25, 2019
Article in press: June 26, 2019
Published online: August 14, 2019
Processing time: 110 Days and 2.4 Hours
Peer-review started: April 28, 2019
First decision: May 24, 2019
Revised: June 11, 2019
Accepted: June 25, 2019
Article in press: June 26, 2019
Published online: August 14, 2019
Processing time: 110 Days and 2.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Since the liver plays a key metabolic role, different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in the exhaled breath of hepatopathic patients. VOCs have been already analyzed with promising results concerning disease diagnosis and characterization. To date, translation to the clinic has been limited by the lack of standardization and external validation of the results obtained. Since VOC analysis with new technologies is easy, quick, and cheap, and it was proven to discriminate patients with liver cirrhosis, identify stage disease severity, and predict important adverse outcomes, it should be further explored and hopefully exported to clinical practice.