So far the transrectal ultrasound guided (TRUS) biopsy has been the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing prostate cancer. However, it is invasive and can lead to complications, so there is a need for new non-invasive diagnostic tools to avoid unnecessary biopsy numbers. Recent studies show that a volatile organic compound (VOC) in exhaled breath can be used to detect cancer via an artificial neural network (ANN). This work is from The Netherlands and describes a prospective study over two years using an electronic nose (Aeonose™) to differentiate VOC patterns between cancer prostate cases (CaP) and healthy subjects. Exhaled breath was analysed in 287 cases (CaP in 107 and healthy in 180). The ANN model of significant CaP versus non-significant CaP / controls showed sensitivity and specificity of 0.84 and 0.52. To summarise, Aeonose™ allows one to separate significant CaP from non-significant CaP. Further studies and large series are advised.
