Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group IBS & IBD diagnoses

Abdominal pain is often a symptom of bowel disease
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This from the BBC website today.


UK scientists say they have found a way of diagnosing different types of bowel disease by testing the smells given off by patients' stools.

The test analyses the chemical compounds emitted and recognises the profile of different diseases.

In a study of 182 stool samples from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, the results were 76% accurate.

The research team said the test could provide more accurate diagnoses.

The University of the West of England study, published in the Journal of Breath Research, used a testing system they built combining a gas chromatograph and a metal oxide sensor to recognise patterns specific to known diseases.

These patterns are created by volatile organic compounds emitted from stool samples, which are a good indicator of the conditions in the patient's gastrointestinal tract.

Difficult to diagnose
Norman Ratcliffe, professor of material and sensor sciences at UWE, said the "odour reader" would get even more accurate results with more samples to test.

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If patients can be correctly diagnosed early without the invasive investigations, it will save the NHS money”

Gary Douch
Bowel Disease UK
"There is a huge amount of variation in samples because of the different foods eaten by patients, but we have trained the system to match unknown samples to the database of patterns it has already acquired. With more samples, we would get better results."

The method could be particularly useful for diagnosing for a group of diseases that are hard to distinguish, he said.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), for example, have very similar symptoms, making a definitive diagnosis difficult - and yet they are very different conditions.

IBD is an autoimmune disease caused by a response of the immune system to microbes in the gut, which is usually diagnosed by colonoscopy, while IBS is a disorder of the digestive tract with no known cause.

It is often only diagnosed when other more serious bowel diseases have been ruled out.

The study results also showed that patients with IBD could be distinguished from healthy patients with a 79% accuracy.

Gary Douch, chairman of Bowel Disease UK, said the process offered hope to those suffering from a range of bowel diseases.

"If this process is as accurate as 76% it will offer hope to those potentially suffering from IBD.

"If patients can be correctly diagnosed early without the invasive investigations, it will save the NHS money and also speed up much-needed treatment for the patie

Great stuff, bilko:

Glad researchers didn't blame "stress" (finally) on IBS, but what we need is a better sense of smell amongst the voting populace, at least here in USA.

How's the Serpentine treating You these days?

HEALTH,
John

Treating me OK. It has been a mild winter, water temperature at 8 C and rising. Must swim further and try to get fitter.

Nice Bilko
Can we all donate samples?

Your stool holds the byproducts of cytokines. And would alter the smell of your stool IMO. The stool itself is coarsed in forms of cytokines.

Last year I saw a demonstration at Imperial College of similar equipment which is to be used in cancer surgery. The smoke from the surgeon's 'hot knife' was analysed there and then so that the surgeon knew whether or not the tissue being cut was cancerous or not. The equipment analysed the chemical components in the smoke and compared the results to an established database to give the answer.

hello, I've posted it yesterday, you should take a look :

Larry Smarr - The Human Microbiome and the Revolution in Digital Health


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdkVDKWrmOQ

Microscopic examination is definitely under-used in the clinic and I do not understand why.

Because it's actually really new and probably still expensive I guess.

Right but I suspect others too.