Healthcare Technology Featured Article

March 19, 2014

Detect Disease with a Stiff Breeze Thanks to Toshiba's New Breathalyzer


For most people, the first thing that comes to mind with a breathalyzer is the idea of measuring a person's blood-alcohol content through a comparatively non-invasive means. But Toshiba has taken the idea of the breathalyzer and run with it, bringing out a new system that can detect disease in a user, not drunkenness.

The idea is simple but almost disturbingly elegant; users simply blow into a hose attached to the base unit—currently about the size of a small dishwasher—several times. Upon doing so, an infrared laser within the device irradiates the breath that's been blown into the system, and looks for trace gases that have been blown in, including acetaldehyde, acetone and methane. Should those gases be spotted on a user's breath, there's a potential sign that something more significant may be wrong with the user, including a series of stomach ailments, a simple hangover, or even diabetes.

The idea of detecting health problems through breath is not a new one. Some reports suggest that dogs are being used to smell a patient's breath to detect lung cancer, and given that a dog's sense of smell is substantially more powerful than that of humans, it's not so far-fetched. But even humans can detect one common breath-related ailment: diabetes. One of the primary symptoms of diabetes, according to reports, is a “fruity-smelling” breath, which some have compared to nail polish remover. This is acetone at work, one of the gases that the Toshiba breathalyzer is geared toward detecting.

But this is just the beginning for Toshiba's breathalyzer; reports suggest that it's currently being further retooled to detect more trace gases that may have an issue, plus there's work on correlating the presence of acetone with fat metabolism. While the device will likely only get more powerful as it goes, that means it's going to take some time to get to users.

Still, it's a noteworthy idea that will likely prove a help. A device no more invasive than a standard whistle is being used to detect at least possible signs of ailment before anyone even notices symptoms? That's smart, right there, and Toshiba really shows off why the healthcare market is such a great market in which to operate. There's all sorts of room for this kind of thing in there, and throw in the fact that it's a clear benefit to society and the end result is a market worth moving into. There are some fairly substantial barriers to entry in such a market, however, including issues like government regulators getting involved, but in Toshiba's case, and this could still work out. Consider if Toshiba couldn't get government approval, but instead released the device as a consumer-grade curiosity, allowing users to breathe into the device to check for said gases then simply take the early self-diagnoses to a doctor for actual treatment and diagnosis in a kind of telemedicine supplement. It would give doctors an idea of where to start looking, as well as in some directions that may seem similar to the one the patient brought in.

A device like this one could mean some very big things for the healthcare industry, and in turn, could generate quite a bit of revenue for Toshiba. Only time will tell if it can pass the various regulatory hoops to hit the market, but an idea like this is worth trying to get through.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]




SHARE THIS ARTICLE



FREE eNewsletter

Click here to receive your targeted Healthcare Technology Community eNewsletter.
[Subscribe Now]