Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Nov 6, 2015; 6(4): 111-113
Published online Nov 6, 2015. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v6.i4.111
Flatography: Detection of gastrointestinal diseases by faecal gas analysis
Evelien F de Groot, Tim G de Meij, Daniel J Berkhout, Marc P van der Schee, Nanne K de Boer
Evelien F de Groot, Nanne K de Boer, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, VU University Medical Centre, 1081HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tim G de Meij, Daniel J Berkhout, Marc P van der Schee, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, VU University Medical Centre, 1081HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Author contributions: de Groot EF and de Boer NK had the original idea and wrote the manuscript; de Meij TG, Berkhout DJ and van der Schee MP critically reviewed the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Nanne K de Boer, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, VU University Medical Centre, PO Box 7057, 1081HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. khn.deboer@vumc.nl
Telephone: +31-20-4440613 Fax: +31-20-4440554
Received: April 24, 2015
Peer-review started: April 25, 2015
First decision: July 10, 2015
Revised: September 1, 2015
Accepted: September 25, 2015
Article in press: September 28, 2015
Published online: November 6, 2015
Processing time: 201 Days and 21 Hours
Abstract

Patients presenting with gastro-intestinal symptoms might suffer from a range of possible underlying diseases. An unmet need exists for novel cost-effective, reproducible, easy-to-perform and non-invasive tests. Hippocrates used body odours to diagnose diseases circa 460 before Christ. The art of diagnostic smelling is making a promising high-tech come-back with portable “electronic diagnostic noses”. Analysis of faecal volatile organic compounds is a novel field in metabolomics with considerable potential to improve the diagnosis, phenotyping and monitoring of gastro-intestinal disease. Challenges will be to mature over the coming years by development of a standardized methodology for stool sample collection, storage, handling and analysis. Furthermore, key volatiles need to be identified to improve test accuracy and sensitivity by development of sensors tailored toward the accurate identification of disease specific volatiles. If these challenges are adequately faced, analysis of faecal volatiles has realistic potential to considerably improve screening, diagnosis and disease monitoring for gastro-intestinal diseases.

Keywords: Flatography; Electronic nose; Smell; Volatile organic compounds; Gastro-intestinal diseases; Volatile metabolomics

Core tip: Analysis of faecal volatile organic compounds is a novel field in metabolomics with considerable potential to improve the diagnosis, phenotyping and monitoring of gastro-intestinal disease. Challenges will be to mature over the coming years by development of a standardized methodology for stool sample collection, storage, handling and analysis. Key volatiles need to be identified to improve test accuracy and sensitivity by development of sensors tailored toward the accurate identification of disease specific volatiles. Analysis of faecal volatiles has realistic potential to considerably improve screening, diagnosis and disease monitoring for gastro-intestinal diseases.