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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from various bodily fluids have been studied as noninvasive biomarkers. In a recent prospective study, researchers evaluated whether VOCs obtained from the gaseous headspace of liquid bile could accurately distinguish pancreatic cancer from chronic pancreatitis.
Bile samples were collected from a discovery cohort of 57 patients and a validation cohort of 31 patients via aspiration during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Both groups comprised patients with pancreatic cancer and patients with chronic pancreatitis. Bile samples were centrifuged and heated before VOCs were sampled for mass spectrometry testing.
In the discovery cohort, the VOCs acetone and ammonia were significantly increase…