The use of a gas chromatograph coupled to a metal oxide sensor for rapid assessment of stool samples from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease patients

Vaughan, K.; Shepherd, S. F.; McGuire, Natasha D.; de Lacy Costello, Ben; Ewen, R. J.; Jayasena, D. H.; Ahmed, I.; Probert, C. S. J.; Ratcliffe, Norman M.

Abstract

There is much clinical interest in the development of a low-cost and reliable test for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), two very distinct diseases that can present with similar symptoms. The assessment of stool samples for the diagnosis of gastro-intestinal diseases is in principle an ideal non-invasive testing method. This paper presents an approach to stool analysis using headspace gas chromatography and a single metal oxide sensor coupled to artificial neural network software. Currently, the system is able to distinguish samples from patients with IBS from patients with IBD with a sensitivity and specificity of 76% and 88% respectively, with an overall mean predictive accuracy of 76%. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Journal: Journal of Breath Research
• Print ISSN: 1752-7155
• Electronic ISSN: 1752-7163
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/8/2/026001
• Keywords: gas chromatograph couple, metal oxide sensor, rapid assessment, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/816989
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/8/2/026001