Cyber sniffer predicts radiotherapy side-effects

Gastrointestinal side effects are said to be commonplace in radiotherapy patients and can occasionally be severe, yet there is no existing means of predicting which patients will suffer from them.

The results of the pilot study, published in the journal Sensors, outline how the use of an electronic nose and a newer technology, FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry) might help identify those at higher risk.

Warwick Medical School, working in collaboration with the School of Engineering and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, led by Dr J Andreyev, carried out a pilot study to look into the relationship between levels of toxicity in the gut and the likelihood of experiencing side effects.

‘In the simplest terms, we believe that patterns in toxicity levels arise from differences in a patient’s gut microflora,’ said Dr Ramesh Arasaradnam, of Warwick Medical School and gastroenterologist at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire. ‘By using this technology we can analyse stool samples and sniff out the chemicals that are produced by these microflora to better predict the risk of side effects.’