Israeli scientists have developed a way to identify chronic kidney failure in its earliest stages by modifying a carbon nanosensor "electronic nose" invented to detect cancer.
The "electronic nose", which can diagnose cancer in just two or three minutes by analyzing a patient's breath, earlier developed by Technion Israel Institute of Technology researchers, has now been modified to identify chronic renal failure (CRF).
"This technology will enable diagnosis even before the disease begins to progress", said lead researcher Dr Hossam Haick, Institute at the Technion.
"When detected at such an early stage, kidney diseases can be dramatically slowed with medication and diet," he said.
He added that even in cases where chronic renal failure is discovered in its advanced stages, appropriate medication can slow its progress and spare the patient's deterioration towards end-stage renal disease, and the need for dialysis.
Current methods for testing for kidney diseases can be inaccurate and invasive. The most reliable test, a kidney biopsy, may result in infections and bleeding.
So far, the researchers have tested the "electronic nose" on the exhaled breath of laboratory rats with no kidney function and normal kidney function. The device identified 27 volatile organic compounds that appear only in the breath of rats with no kidney function.
