Biomedical Application of an Electronic Nose

The analysis of volatiles secreted outside the human body to get information on the health status of the individuals has been proposed several times in the past. This kind of analysis is complex both from the point of view of sample collection and data interpretation when, for instance, gas chromatography is utilized. In the recent years the advent of chemical sensors and chemical sensors systems (the so-called electronic nose) opened the way to the possibility of fast and simple analysis of odors in many fields, and, recently, among them, in medicine. In this paper some examples of these apllications are illustrated. The results, although preliminary, encourage in pursuing these researches that can give rise to a better comprehension of the role of smell and odor in humans and, possibily in the near future, in novel diagnostic tools.