Kolkata, Jan 12 (IANS): A puff of air can now help in the early diagnosis of stomach ulcers, a researcher said here on Thursday, highlighting that the non-invasive technique could be a boon to run tests on infants and the elderly.

Manik Pradhan of S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences said peptic ulcer disease and non-ulcerous dyspepsia can be detected through an analysis of the breath of the suspected patient.

"We have designed a method to diagnose peptic ulcer disease and non ulcerous dyspepsia without going for painful endoscopy or biopsy. The patient has to just breath on the detector. It is based on laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The technique is targeted towards early detection and also follow-ups after treatment," Pradhan told IANS.

The work was highlighted at the recently-concluded 104th Indian Science Congress.

Explaining the basis of the test, Pradhan said the human breath (the puff of air exhaled) contains around 3,000 to 4,000 molecules and some of them act as indicators (biomarkers) for certain diseases.

"Some of these molecules and their isotopic species are closely associated with a particular disease or metabolic disorders in humans. Under disease conditions, these molecules undergo transformation and their concentrations also undergo change. We were able to analyse these changes for peptic ulcer," Pradhan said.

He said molecular hydrogen in human breath opens up a new frontier for selectively diagnosing peptic ulcer disease, non-ulcerous dyspepsia and helicobacter pylori infection.

"It has an accuracy of 95 per cent and is particularly useful for children and the elderly. The test can be repeated as many times as required without the fear of cross infection," he said.

A patent in India has been filed for the device and the researchers are now working towards integrating it with mobile phones.