Iris van der Sar at BBCon 23

00:00 eNose Technology in Interstitial Lung Disease
14:10 Q&A session

Talk Abstract:

The group of interstitial lung disease (ILD) includes a variety of diagnoses affecting the lung interstitium. Most patients experience delay during the diagnostic process, since the ILDs are rare and patients present with generic symptoms like breathlessness and cough. Individual clinical characteristics, treatment response and disease course varies widely between and within patients of diagnosis groups. This variety requires a personalized approach for each individual. However, diagnostic and predictive biomarkers are currently lacking. Exhaled breath might be a source of novel biomarkers. Breath analysis using an electronic nose (eNose) profiles exhaled volatile organic compounds using sensor technology. This technology has been studied in ILD over the past few years. Research showed promising results for diagnosing ILD, detecting ILD early and predicting response to ILD treatment in single and multicenter studies. International validation studies are currently ongoing. These studies might eventually lead to a clinical application to improve the diagnostic journey and personalized treatment approach for patients with ILD.

Speaker Biography:

Iris van der Sar is a medical doctor and PhD candidate at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on exhaled breath analysis in Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), with special interest in pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis. Since there is no single diagnostic test for ILD and most patients experience substancial diagnostic delay, there is high need for discovery of novel biomarkers. Therefore, the primary objective of her ongoing research is to validate electronic nose technology for its application as a point-of-care diagnostic tool in clinical practice. She is also conducting exploratory research aiming to predict disease course and facilitate personalized treatment in patients with ILD using an eNose.