Disease and Smell: “Byoshu”

抄録

Following vision, the sense of smell and odor are important sources of external information. However, smell is not acknowledged as an important sensory faculty in clinical medicine and olfaction functions have not been sufficiently examined.
Moreover, odor is not used in most diagnoses. Elements of the cause of the change in body odor with aging, i.e. aging odors, have been identified. Although it is considered that diseases are characterized by specific odors, particularly cancer, a characteristic known as byoshu in Japan, the fundamental nature of byoshu has not been clarified. Recently, with developments in techniques for the analysis of odor and greater understanding of the molecular mechanism of the sense of smell, it has become possible to analyze the odor elements that cause byoshu. Moreover, the ability to use odor elements and volatile organic compounds to diagnose cancer has also been demonstrated. Development of convenient methods of odor analysis will allow the bedside or outpatient diagnosis of various diseases, including cancer.