Diagnosis of Kidney Failure by Analysis of the Concentration of Ammonia in Exhaled Human Breath

Department of Electrical Engineering, Bayero University, PMB 3011 Kano, Nigeria. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract The human mouth contains many kinds of substances both in liquid and gaseous form. The individual concentrations of each of these substances could provide useful insight to the health condition of the entire body. Ammonia is one of such substances whose concentration in the mouth has revealed the presence or absence of diseases in the body. Kidney failure is one disease which is identified by extremely high ammonia content in human breath. This disease is as a result of the kidneys’ inability to process the body’s liquid waste thereby resulting in high blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level. The result of this is the release of urea throughout the body which is dissipated in the form of ammonia through oral breath. This paper proposes an affordable ammonia breathalyzer for the diagnosis of kidney failure in humans with 85% success rate. The purpose of this research is to provide an affordable and reliable means of detecting kidney failure in hospitals and even in homes. This will help patients of the disease seek medical help quickly (especially those in rural areas). The potential impact of this research is the availability of this means of BUN detection to less privileged people. __________________________________________________________________________________________