Trace detection of endogenous human volatile organic compounds for search, rescue and emergency applications

Since Pauling's paper in the 1970s, interest has increased in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from different bio-fluids, such as blood and urine. A number of VOCs reflect internal biochemical pathways occurring in the human body and their chemical pattern may serve as the chemical platform for tracing human VOCs. Monitoring endogenous human VOCs is proposed as an alternative method to the use of canines for search, rescue and emergency applications. Tracing human VOCs requires robust, rapid, reliable and sensitive analytical instruments. Instrumentation currently used to study human VOC biomarkers (e.g. GC-MS, PTR-MS, SIFT-MS, MCC-IMS, FAIMS and sensor based systems) has significant clinical potential, but has yet to receive widespread consideration for emergency search applications.