Human Disease Detection with Saliva Gas Analysis

Abstract

Saliva is a complex fluid containing hormones, antibodies, enzymes, microorganisms, and their metabolites, and cellular debris. Saliva analysis has conventionally been carried out for detecting various diseases by healthcare providers. Primarily it is used for detecting hereditary disorders, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and certain cancers. Saliva analysis thus serves as a powerful and versatile diagnostic tool for both local (oral) and systemic (whole body) disease detection and management.The gases evolving from saliva are indicative of human systematic health. Disease detection with saliva gas analysis is an emerging noninvasive technique used to investigate disease indicators in saliva through Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) analysis. Many of saliva VOCs gases evaporate easily at room temperature. The composition of these VOCs changes based on the body's physiological and pathological state. The VOCs in saliva originate from systemic blood circulation, oral micro biome, oral tissues and stomach. The metabolic change occurring due to diseases is reflected in the saliva VOC footprints. Therefore, this paper focuses on identification of disease from saliva gas analysis. The set of sensors comprising of conductivity, VOC, methane, oxygen and ammonia gas sensors is deployed for saliva gas capture. The experimental results are presented for disease detection by comparing the detected gas levels with thresholds.