Volatile Organic Compounds Determination from Intestinal Polyps and in Exhaled Breath by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

In this paper, a new protocol is described, based on solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), to monitor ex vivo changes in endogenous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by surgically resected colonic tissues (normal colonic mucosa and adenomatous polyps) from seven patients undergoing operative colonoscopy to identify their molecular pattern. The exhalated volatile organic molecules from these patients were sampled by the ReCIVA (R) breath sampler, shortly before surgery, and analyzed by GC-MS. Comparing VOC patterns identified in the tissues and in the breath of the same patients, a possible correlation can be found between the levels of methylbenzene and benzaldehyde exhaled and the presence of colonic adenomatous polypoid lesions.

Automated summary

This paper presents a new protocol using SPME-GC-MS to monitor changes in endogenous VOCs released by resected colonic tissues. The VOCs from breath samples of patients were analyzed and compared with tissue samples to find a possible correlation between exhaled methylbenzene and benzaldehyde levels and the presence of colonic adenomatous polypoid lesions.