The faecal scent of inflammatory bowel disease: Detection and monitoring based on volatile organic compound analysis.

Abstract Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is diagnosed and monitored using endoscopic assessment, which is invasive and costly. In this study, potential of faecal volatile organic compounds (VOC) analysis for IBD detection and identification of disease activity was evaluated. Methods IBD patients visiting outpatient clinics of participating tertiary hospitals were included. Active disease was defined as FCP ≥250 mg/g, remission as FCP Results A total of 280 IBD patients collected 107 CDa, 84 CDr, 80 UCa and 63 UCr samples. Additionally, 227 HC provided one faecal sample. UC and CD were discriminated from HC with high accuracy (AUC (95%CI): UCa vs HC 0.96(0.94-0.99); UCr vs HC 0.95(0.93-0.98); CDa vs HC 0.96(0.94-0.99); CDr vs HC 0.95(0.93-0.98)). There were small differences between UC and CD (0.55(0.50-0.6)) and no differences between active disease and remission (UCa vs UCr 0.63(0.44-0.82); CDa vs CDr 0.52(0.39-0.65)). Conclusion Our study outcomes imply that faecal VOC analysis holds potential for identifying biomarkers for IBD detection but not for monitoring disease activity.