Breath Testing Device Reaches 81% Accuracy in Early Detection for Parkinson’s

A new breath testing device under development by Prof. Hossam Haick’s research team from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is expected to facilitate the early detection of 17 different diseases, including Parkinson’s. As symptoms for the disease are only noticeable once irreversible damage has been done, the device is equipped with 40 sensors corresponding to markers for the disease, which react to a simple breath. The capacity for early detection could precipitate new treatments for the disease that will prevent and control its characteristic interference with dopaminergic neurons responsible for bodily movement.

The advent of the device was inspired by earlier studies of a Technion-led international team of researchers, which tested the efficacy of breath tests in diagnosing a host of various diseases. Research published in the scientific journal, ACS Chemical Neuroscience, corroborated this understanding, boasting that the new tool enjoyed an 80%-plus accuracy rate in early detection of Parkinson’s when compared with a control group.