title: Photoacoustic Spectroscopy for the Determination of Lung Cancer Biomarkers-A Preliminary Investigation.
abstract: With 1.6 million deaths per year, lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. One reason for this high number is the absence of a preventive medical examination method. Many diagnoses occur in a late cancer stage with a low survival rate. An early detection could significantly decrease the mortality. In recent decades, certain substances in human breath have been linked to certain diseases. Different studies show that it is possible to distinguish between lung cancer patients and a healthy control group by analyzing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their breath. We developed a sensor based on photoacoustic spectroscopy for six of the most relevant VOCs linked to lung cancer. As a radiation source, the sensor uses an optical-parametric oscillator (OPO) in a wavelength region from 3.2 µm to 3.5 µm. The limits of detection for a single substance range between 5 ppb and 142 ppb. We also measured high resolution absorption spectra of the biomarkers compared to the data currently available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database, which is the basis of any selective spectroscopic detection. Future lung cancer screening devices could be based on the further development of this sensor.
authors.affiliation: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Heinrich Blasius Institute for Physical Technologies, Berliner Tor 21, 20099 Hamburg, Germany. yannick.saalberg@haw-hamburg.de.|University of the West of Scotland, High Street, PA1 2BE Paisley, UK. yannick.saalberg@haw-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saalberg
authors.affiliation: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Heinrich Blasius Institute for Physical Technologies, Berliner Tor 21, 20099 Hamburg, Germany. henry.bruhns@haw-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bruhns
authors.affiliation: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Heinrich Blasius Institute for Physical Technologies, Berliner Tor 21, 20099 Hamburg, Germany. marcus.wolff@haw-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolff
mesh_terms: D001944:Breath Tests; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: IR spectra; OPO; PAS; VOC; biomarker; breath analysis; lung cancer; optical-parametric oscillator; photoacoustic spectroscopy; volatile organic compound