Multiple sclerosis can be diagnosed with a BREATH TEST because & # 039; patients exhale different connections & # 039;

Multiple sclerosis can be diagnosed with a breath test in the near future, scientists hope.

Research has suggested that patients affected by the incurable condition exhale various substances compared to healthy people.

Called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), some types can indicate other diseases, such as cancer.

Experts hope that VOC & # 39; s GPs will help recognize MS faster when a patient visits the early symptoms of the progressive disorder.

Currently, diagnoses can take a long time and tests such as MRI scans that can be painful are required.

Dr. Susan Kohlhaas, director of research at MS Society, admitted that a breathing biopsy might sound futuristic & # 39 ;.

However, she added: “MS researchers are achieving incredible things today – and these findings, although early, are very encouraging.

& # 39; There are more than 100,000 people with MS in the UK and we often hear that the path to diagnosis is an incredibly stressful time.

& # 39; The techniques used for diagnosis are invasive, expensive and often laborious, so this exciting development would address a major unmet need.

& # 39; A lumbar puncture and even an MRI scan can be an uncomfortable and disturbing experience that we know people with MS would like to change. & # 39;

Everyone exudes hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the body, but it is not entirely clear what each means.

VOCs are what dogs are able to sniff in the early stages of many cancers, including ovaries and lung cancer.

Dr. Kohlhaas & # 39; comments were based on promising research by academics at the University of Huddersfield last year.

They watched the VOS exhaled in the breath of 60 participants, including healthy people and patients with different types of MS.

They found several new VOCs that & # 39; more or less abundant & # 39; are in the breath of people with MS compared to healthy people.

At least six VOCs differ between subtypes of MS and can therefore be used to distinguish between people with relapsing MS and progressive MS.

Pheobe Tate, a master student who led the research under the supervision of Dr. Patrick McHugh said that the meaning of this VOC should be validated.

She told MailOnline: & # 39; We have found six molecules, but we cannot tell if it is definitive, so we are speculative.

& # 39; We should check if people with other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases have these. & # 39;

The work has yet to be published.

To see if the VOCs are unique to MS, the next team research will include patients with neurological, autoimmune or inflammatory conditions.

Dr. McHugh and colleagues are collecting breath samples from 500 people, 350 of whom will have a total of MS.

Mrs Tate hopes that the test will be rolled out over the NHS within the next five years and used by general practitioners.

It is understood, based on a 2017 study by Israeli researchers, that VOCs reflect changes in the gut microbiome of MS patients.

Currently, the diagnosis of MS is based on vague symptoms, including fatigue, muscle stiffness, and difficult balancing.

MS damages the nerves in the body and makes it harder to do everyday things such as walking, talking, eating and thinking. It is relentless, painful and invalidating.

It is most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s and is one of the most common causes of disability in younger adults.

In addition to offering a fast and inexpensive diagnostic method, the VOS can also be an indicator of how patients respond to drugs, as well as their disease progression.

Soo Lyon-Milne, 53, from Stockport, lives with the secondary progressive form of MS. She said: & # 39; If this test had been available at the time my symptoms started, doctors could have diagnosed me ten years earlier.

& # 39; There are no medicines for my type of MS and that may have given me a chance to be treated.

& # 39; MRIs can also be pretty scary – I have never considered myself a claustrophobic person, but I am in those machines. It's nerve-racking. Anything that helps prevent others would be fantastic. & # 39;