Volatile organic compounds fingerprint of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a profoundly life changing condition and once diagnosis occurs, this is typically at a relatively late stage into the disease process. Therefore, a shift to earlier diagnosis, which means several decades before the onset of the typical manifestation of the disease, will be an important step forward for the patient. A promising diagnostic and screening tool to answer this purpose is represented by breath and exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis. In fact, human exhaled breath contains several thousand of VOCs that vary in abundance and number in correlation with the physiological status. The exhaled VOCs reflect the metabolism, including the neuronal …