Scientists
in Kolkata have developed an inexpensive bloodless test for diabetes
patients that requires just a sample of air breathed out by the patient.
Instead
of rolling up the sleeve for a needle jab to draw blood, the patient
will simply have to take a deep breath and blow it out onto a device no
bigger than a fingernail.
"It is the need of the hour to develop
a simple non-invasive diagnostic procedure which would revolutionise
diabetes management," Amarnath Sen, of the Central Glass and Ceramic
Research Institute (CGCRI) in Kolkata who led the research team, told
IANS.
Sen, who led a team of scientists from CGCRI and the
Institute of Child Health (ICH) – also in Kolkata, believes the
diabetes test kit, when fully developed and validated, should cost
between Rs 500-700. It will require no consumables and last for five
years.
The expensive 'glucometers' currently available in the
market come with equally expensive test strips that must be thrown away
after single use.
The scientific basis of Sen's non-invasive
test is the well known fact that the breath of a diabetic patient has a
sweet, fruity smell.
The sweet odour comes from a chemical
compound called acetone formed as a byproduct when the body converts
fat into energy – a process called 'ketosis'.
Ketosis takes
place in all humans but the concentration of acetone in the breath of
healthy individuals does not exceed 0.9 parts per million (ppm), Sen
said.
However, in a diabetic – because glucose is not readily
available as an energy source – the patient will be burning a lot of
fat, thereby pumping acetone in excess of normal levels.
The
'sensor' developed by Sen's team measures the amount of acetone in the
patient's breath and thereby gives an indication of the diabetic status.
The
report by Sen and co-workers – Shirshendu Chakraborty and Indrani Ray –
from CGCRI and Dibyajyoti Banerjee from ICH – appears in the Jan 25
issue of Current Science journal published by the Indian Academy of
Sciences in Bangalore.
Commenting on the work, Muthuswamy
Balasubramanyam, assistant director of the Madras Diabetes Research
Foundation in Chennai, said, “non-invasive techniques are always
better" and that the team’s work is an "important contribution".
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