Exhaled breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detection methods: GC-MS versus eNose in COPD diagnosis-a systematic review and meta-analysis

This study revealed that VOCs can distinguish COPD patients from healthy controls. While both GC-MS and eNose demonstrated comparable sensitivity, GC-MS - considered the gold standard method for VOCs detection - showed lower specificity and AUC values than eNose in differentiating COPD patients from controls, suggesting that eNose has a lower misdiagnosis rate for COPD. These result may be influenced by the heterogeneity due to the variations in COPD disease stages or differences in breath portion across studies. Future research is recommended to standardize case inclusion criteria and conduct multicenter head-to-head validation studies.