A point-of-care and routine clinical instrument based on artificial nose: Study of volatile emission from axillary skin

A hand-held electronic nose (e-nose) based on polymer/carbon nanotube (CNT) is presented as a point-of-care clinical instrument. The system was designed to support key requirements such as compact body, lightweight and low cost suitable for home-based diagnostics. This paper is a case study to demonstrate clinical application of an e-nose by investigating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as generated from the armpit area of a volunteer during twelve hours. Six chemical sensors, which can respond to VOCs being available in human skin and sweat such as ammonia, amines, acid, alcohol and acetone, were chosen to collect odor information according to the principle of expansion of polymer volume. Principal component analysis (PCA) based on a statistical pattern analysis was used to classify and analyze the VOCs fingerprint. The experimental results have shown that this device can be a useful instrument for monitoring the health status of patients at home.