Optoelectronic Detection of Disease Biomarkers in Air Exhaled from Human Lungs

Biomarkers are compounds whose excessive concentration in breath may indicate disease states. High precision laser absorption techniques, such as the multipass spectroscopy and cavity ring down spectroscopy at wavelengths corresponding to strong absorption lines of these compounds, are the appropriate methods for a sensitive detection of biomarkers in breath. In this paper, we present our achievements in optical detection of CH2O, C2H6, NO2, OCS, NH3, CH4, and CO. The presented results prove that with such systems, the detection of pathogenic changes at the molecular level is possible.