POC-ASTHMA: Point of care exhaled breath test for asthma diagnosis

“我们建议研究在初级保健环境中使用床旁（POC）呼气测试诊断哮喘的可行性。快速和准确地诊断哮喘和识别患者对于确保尽早实施适当治疗（包括必要时住院治疗）至关重要。这种类型的诊断技术将导致更有效的治疗，并有助于减少疾病的负担。哮喘主要是诊断的基础上，仔细的临床病史采取由临床医生。然而，对被诊断患有哮喘的成年人的研究表明，高达30%的人没有明确的哮喘证据。目前迫切需要使用呼出的一氧化氮（FeNO）和挥发性有机化合物（VOC）进行客观检测，这将对当前的实践产生重大改进。我们将致力于创新性地将这两种新的传感器元件集成到手持式设备中，供医疗保健专业人员使用。使用活性纳米材料金属氧化物（MOx）气体传感器阵列和柔性聚合物基底制造的低成本气体传感器，用于检测呼出气中与哮喘诊断和管理相关的FeNO和VOC生物标志物。使用新型纳米材料配方制造的新型流量传感器，可以检测和测量可用于肺功能测量的气体流量。纳米材料配方将被仔细配制并沉积在塑料基底上，随后进行修改，以选择性地检测FeNO和VOC生物标志物。印刷的FeNO气体传感器将使用应用纳米探测器新的专利创新激发技术进行激发，然后暴露于测试气体混合物中，以优化传感器性能。其目标是提供诊断方面的突破性技术，从而有可能显著降低测量成本并改善诊断测试。这将导致减少给误诊患者的昂贵药物，早期诊断也将确保患者得到适当的治疗，从而改善预后。这些项目结果的开发将导致原型的开发，可用于临床验证和临床实用性研究。"

"We propose to investigate the feasibility of a point of care (POC) exhaled breath test for the diagnosis of asthma for use in primary care setting. The rapid and accurate diagnosis of asthma and identification of patients would be essential to ensure that adequate treatment, including hospitalisation when necessary, is implemented as early as possible. This type of diagnostic techniques would lead to more efficacious treatments and help to reduce the burden of disease.Asthma is mainly diagnosed principally on the basis of a careful clinical history take taken by a clinician. However, studies of adults diagnosed with asthma suggest that up to 30% do not have clear evidence of asthma. There is a critical need for objective testing using fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that would offer a significant improvement to current practise.We will work on innovatively integrating these two new sensor elements into a handheld device for use by healthcare professionals. A low-cost gas sensor fabricated using active nanomaterial metal oxide (MOx) gas sensor array and flexible polymer substrates for the detection FeNO and VOC biomarkers in exhaled breath associated with the diagnosis and management of asthma. A new flow sensor fabricated using new nanomaterial formulations that can detect and measure gas flow that could be used to make lung function measurements.Nanomaterial formulations will be carefully formulated and deposited onto plastic substrates and subsequently modified to selectively detect FeNO and VOC biomarkers. The printed FeNO gas sensor will be then excited using Applied Nanodetectors new patented innovative excitation technique and then exposed to test gases mixtures to optimize the sensor performance. The target is to provide breakthrough technology in diagnostics which can potentially significantly lower measurement costs and improve diagnostic testing. This would lead to a reduction in costly drugs given to people misdiagnosed and also early diagnosis will ensure patients get the appropriate treatment leading to improve outcomes. Exploitation of these project results will lead to development of prototype that can used for clinical validation and clinical utility studies."