EDINBURGH, Jul 05 (Reuters) - Breath tests and skin patches could become
standard tools to help doctors diagnose and treat schizophrenia, researchers
said on Tuesday.
Scientists at the Highland Psychiatric Research Foundation in Inverness,
Scotland, tested the breath of 90 patients and a control group for abnormally
high levels of certain gaseous particles which may be linked to the disease.
"Diagnosis is always one of the big problems with schizophrenia," said Dr
Marion Ross, a biochemist working on the project. "This is only preliminary
research but we are getting some promising results," she told Reuters at the
Royal College of Psychiatry conference.
The experiments showed dramatically increased levels of ethane and butane in
the breath of diagnosed schizophrenics. The number of butane particles in the
exhaled breath also appeared to bear a correlation with the severity of the
disease.
Separate trials of skin patches showed that the skin of patients diagnosed
with acute schizophrenia turned a livid red when a specially treated patch was
applied, while that of unafflicted patients remained unchanged.
Moderate schizophrenics displayed a moderate reaction, leading scientists to
believe the technique could be used as a litmus test for how well a patient is
responding to treatment.
Another advantage of both non-intrusive tests is that they present sufferers
with visible proof of the disease. "One of the main problems with schizophrenia
is patients seldom believe they have the disease. It's not like diabetes where
you can just shown them results of a blood test," Ross said.
