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Validation of the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Electronic Nose in the Detection of Thyroid Cancer

NCT04883294 · Status: UNKNOWN · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 1500

Last updated 2021-05-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Patients with a suspected thyroid nodule face an invasive and patient unfriendly diagnostic work-up to determine the risk of malignancy. Typically, patients undergo ultrasound of the thyroid gland followed by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). FNAC has been considered as a gold standard diagnostic procedure in suspected thyroid nodules. Unfortunately, both the negative- and positive predictive value of FNAC is poor, often resulting in the need for a diagnostic hemithyroidectomy for definite diagnosis . Approximately 40-94% of the suspected thyroid nodules appear to be benign after resection and thus exposes patients to unnecessary surgery with unnecessary risks. Therefore, a quick, non-invasive assessment of the risk of malignancy of thyroid nodules is of paramount importance. Such a novel test could fasten the diagnostic process for patients with malignancies and reduce the amount of 'unnecessary' surgeries for benign conditions.

A promising development in cancer detection is based on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gaseous degradation products of biochemical processes detectable in exhaled breath. During pathophysiological processes related to tumor growth, alterations in cell metabolism lead to a shift in the production of VOCs. The VOCs' patterns can be detected by the Aeonose™ through their reaction with the metal-oxide sensors in this device. A pilot study conducted at the Maastricht University Medical Center demonstrated that, by creating an artificial neural network (ANN) from the VOC patterns of numerous patients and their specific histopathological diagnosis, the Aeonose™ has a high diagnostic accuracy to discriminate benign from malignant thyroid nodules.

The purpose of this study is to validate the accuracy of the Aeonose™, to prevent unnecessary surgery and to investigate the use of the Aeonose™ as a surveillance tool in the postoperative follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer.

We hypothesize that the high negative predictive value of the pilot study will be confirmed in the validation study and expect that implementation of the Aeonose™ in clinical practice will subsequently reduce the number of unnecessary surgeries below 10% for patients with Bethesda ≥ III nodules and may provide an important role in non-invasive detection of recurrent disease.

Conditions

  • Thyroid Neoplasm

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Electronic Nose

All participants breathed through the Aeonose for five minutes. This device contains metal-oxide sensors that change in conductivity upon reaction with VOCs in exhaled breath. These conductivity changes are input data for machine-learning and used for pattern recognition. A nose clip was placed on the nose of each participant to avoid entry of non-filtered air in the device. Before measuring, the Aeonose was flushed with room air, guided through a carbon filter as well. Failed breath tests were excluded from analysis; the reason for failure was documented.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Maastricht University Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Nicole Bouvy, Prof,MD,PhD · Maastricht University Medical Center

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-05-01
Primary Completion
2024-01-01
Completion
2025-01-01

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04883294 on ClinicalTrials.gov