Electronic nose technology in bronchial asthma diagnosis and management

Electronic nose (e-nose) technology, as an emerging non-invasive diagnostic tool, has demonstrated considerable potential in the diagnosis and management of bronchial asthma. By mimicking the human olfactory system, this technology utilizes gas sensor arrays combined with pattern recognition algorithms to enable rapid analysis and identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the exhaled breath of patients with asthma. Accumulating evidence suggests that e-nose systems can discriminate between asthma patients and healthy individuals with relatively high accuracy, and they have also shown promising performance in asthma phenotyping. Compared with conventional pulmonary function tests, e-nose technology offers distinct advantages, including cost-effectiveness, rapid response, and non-invasiveness. These features make it particularly suitable for populations requiring repeated dynamic assessment or those unable to perform high-quality pulmonary function testing. However, current evidence is primarily derived from exploratory studies, and heterogeneity exists across studies in terms of population characteristics and methodologies. This highlights the need for further standardized research to improve the consistency and reproducibility of findings.