Development of a breath test for caries detection - a pilot study.

龋病是世界上最常见的慢性疾病之一，也是最可靠的，但对未来癌症最不乐观的预测指标仍然是疾病的进展。然而，在第一批需要治疗的龋损出现之前，开发一种有效的诊断工具是可取的。DFG Nachwuchsakademie框架内的这项临床试点研究的目的是开发一种用于龋病检测的呼吸测试。根据这项初步研究获得的数据，未来将开发一种早期检测和风险分层的仪器。在已发表的气相色谱-耦合质谱学的初步工作中，检测到了致病微生物的特定挥发性有机化合物模式，并建立了临床采样工作流程。计划中的项目旨在将25名患病患者的呼吸样本与25名无龋者的呼吸样本进行关联，并使用深度学习方法识别龋病患者的特定模式。通过交叉验证，确定了呼气试验的灵敏度和特异度，并优化了学习过程，认为它适用于龋病的风险分层和早期发现。在这种情况下，将在后续项目中开发一种简单、低成本和无风险的医疗点诊断方法，这将意味着可以避免许多X光检查，并可以采用个性化的预防措施。

Caries is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide and the most reliable, but least favorable predictor of future cancer is still the disease progression. However, it would be desirable to develop a diagnostic tool that would be effective before the emergence of the first carious lesions requiring therapy.The aim of this clinical pilot study within the framework of the DFG Nachwuchsakademie is the development of a breath test for caries detection. Based on the data obtained in this pilot study, an instrument for early detection and risk stratification will be developed in the future.In published preliminary work on gas chromatography with coupled mass spectroscopy, specific patterns of volatile organic compounds for pathogenic microorganisms were detected and a workflow for the clinical sampling was established.The planned project aims to correlate breath samples of 25 diseased patients with those from 25 caries-free subjects and to identify specific patterns in caries patients using a deep-learning approach. By means of cross-validation, sensitivity and specificity of the breath test are determined and the learning process is optimized.We assume that it is suitable for the risk stratification and early detection of carious lesions. In this case, a simple, low-cost and risk-free point-of-care diagnostic will be developed in follow-up projects, which, especially in children, would mean that many X-rays could be avoided with and individualized prophylaxis could be introduced.