Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 9;8(7):e69271. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069271. Print 2013.
Since almost every fifth patient treated in hospital care develops pressure ulcers, early identification of risk is important. A non-invasive method for the elucidation of endogenous biomarkers related to pressure ulcers could be an excellent tool for this purpose. We therefore found it of interest to determine if there is a difference in the emissions of volatiles from compressed and uncompressed tissue. The ultimate goal is to find a non-invasive method to obtain an early warning for the risk of developing pressure ulcers for bed-ridden persons. Chemical analysis of the emissions, collected in compresses, was made with gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry and with a chemical sensor array, the so called electronic nose. It was found that the emissions from healthy and hospitalized persons differed significantly irrespective of the site. Within each group there was a clear difference between the compressed and uncompressed site. Peaks that could be certainly deemed as markers of the compression were, however, not identified. Nonetheless, different compounds connected to the application of local mechanical pressure were found. The results obtained with GC-MS reveal the complexity of VOC composition, thus an array of non-selective chemical sensors seems to be a suitable choice for the analysis of skin emission from compressed tissues; it may represent a practical instrument for bed side diagnostics. Results show that the adopted electronic noses are likely sensitive to the total amount of the emission rather than to its composition. The development of a gas sensor-based device requires then the design of sensor receptors adequate to detect the VOCs bouquet typical of pressure. This preliminary experiment evidences the necessity of studies where each given person is followed for a long time in a ward in order to detect the insurgence of specific VOCs pattern changes signalling the occurrence of ulcers.
由于几乎每五名在医院接受治疗的患者中就有一名会发展为压疮，因此早期识别风险非常重要。一种非侵入性的方法可以阐明与压疮相关的内源性生物标志物，这可能是一种很好的工具。因此，我们有兴趣确定从压缩和未压缩组织中发出的挥发性物质是否存在差异。最终目标是找到一种非侵入性的方法，为卧床不起的人提供压疮风险的早期预警。用气相色谱-质谱法和化学传感器阵列（即电子鼻）对收集的压缩物中的排放物进行了化学分析。结果发现，健康人和住院患者的排放物无论部位如何都有明显差异。在每个组中，压缩和未压缩部位之间都有明显的差异。然而，没有确定可以肯定地视为压缩标志物的峰。尽管如此，还是发现了与局部机械压力应用相关的不同化合物。GC-MS 获得的结果揭示了 VOC 组成的复杂性，因此，非选择性化学传感器阵列似乎是分析压缩组织皮肤排放物的合适选择；它可能代表床边诊断的实用仪器。结果表明，所采用的电子鼻可能对排放物的总量敏感，而不是对其组成敏感。基于气体传感器的设备的开发需要设计能够检测到压力特有 VOC 混合物的传感器受体。这项初步实验证明了进行研究的必要性，在该研究中，每个特定的人都需要在病房中长时间随访，以检测特定 VOC 模式变化的出现，这些变化表明溃疡的发生。
