• Michelle Bous, Erol Tutdibi, Nasenien Nourkami-Tutdibi, Elisabeth Kaiser, Regine Stutz, Sascha Meyer, Jörg Ingo Baumbach, Michael Zemlin, and Sybelle Goedicke-Fritz.
• Department of General Pediatrics and Neonatology, Saarland University Medical School, Homburg, Germany.
• Eur. J. Clin. Invest. 2023 Jan 1; 53 (1): e13868e13868.

BackgroundAs neonates are susceptible for many diseases, establishing noninvasive diagnostic methods is desirable. We hypothesized that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could be successfully measured in diaper samples.MethodsWe performed a feasibility study to investigate whether ambient air-independent headspace measurements of the VOC profiles of diapers from premature infants can be conducted using ion mobility spectrometer coupled with multi-capillary columns (B & S Analytik GmbH).ResultsWe analysed 39 diapers filled with stool (n = 10) or urine (n = 20) respectively, using empty diapers as a control (n = 9). A total of 158 different VOCs were identified, and we classified the content of the diapers (urine or stool) according to their VOC profiles with a significance level of p < 0.05.ConclusionsWe have developed a novel method to study headspace VOC profiles of biosamples using ion mobility spectrometry coupled with multi-capillary columns. Using this method, we have characterized the VOC profiles of stool and urine of preterm neonates. Future studies are warranted to characterize specific VOC profiles in infections and other diseases of the preterm neonate, thus establishing quick and noninvasive diagnostics in the routine care of the highly vulnerable preterm and term neonates.© 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Clinical Investigation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation.

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