the object of the present invention is a non - invasive method of diagnosing the severity of heart failure . more specifically , the present method is capable of diagnosing decompensated heart failure by the collection , detection and quantification of a specific biomarker . the present invention presents embodiment examples which prove the efficiency of the present non - invasive diagnosis method compared to the currently existing invasive methods . the differentiating factor of the present diagnosis method comprises the diagnosis of the severity of heart failure and by being a non - invasive method , it confers ease of collection and comfort to the patient , and can widely be applied in hospitals . an additional object of the present invention is a biomarker for diagnosing and prognosticating decompensated hf . the biomarker of said diagnosis method is acetone . this biomarker has never been cited in literature as an indicator of the severity of heart failure , more specifically decompensated heart failure . to analyze the biomarker for decompensated heart failure various device prototypes have been developed to collect exhaled air to investigate and identify the compounds present in samples from patients obtained in a non - invasive manner . some prototypes based in literature have not been suitable , for example , that developed by rosias et al ., 2007 cited in the background of the invention of the present specification , as it implies in a greater collection time due to the inefficiency in capturing the biomarker , and these devices are not indicated for patients suffering from decompensated hf because they present dyspnea and / or tachypnea , signs of respiratory insufficiency secondary to heart decompensation , rendering unfeasible the conclusion of the collection of exhaled air in a volume suitable for detecting minimum levels of the biomarker . an additional object of the present invention is a device for collecting exhaled air for diagnosing the severity of hf comprising a compound with a high acetone absorption capacity . said device is portable , easy to handle and fast to collect , being compatible with sufferers of heart decompensation . for an improved understanding of the present invention , the assays carried out for the embodiment and accreditation of the non - invasive method of diagnosing the severity of heart failure will now be described in detail . patients were divided into four distinct groups : control ; compensated hf ; decompensated hf with congestion and without low output and decompensated hf with low output , congested or not . group 1 was named control comprising healthy volunteers without systolic ventricular dysfunction or any acute or chronic disease and without the regular use of medication ( sorted by age ); group 2 named comphf comprising non - diabetic patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy of different etiologies with stage c hf , whose symptoms have been stable for at least the last three months , who were being attended as outpatients ( consecutive patients that are submitted to the ergospirometric test ); group 3 named conghf comprising non - diabetic patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy of different etiologies with stage c or d hf who present clinical - laboratorial signs of recent decompensation . this group comprises patients with pulmonary and / or systemic congestion , but with preserved perfusion and which , therefore , do not need to use inotropics , whether or not the use of intra - venous vasodilators are necessary ( consecutive patients arriving at emergency ) and , group 4 named lohf comprising non - diabetic patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy of different etiologies with decompensated hf in stage c or d who are admitted into the clinical emergency unit and who show signs of low cardiac output ( hypoperfusion ), congested or not . the use of vasoactive drugs of the inotropic kind is at the discretion of the medical attendant in charge of treating the patient at emergency ( consecutive patients arriving at emergency ). the criteria for defining congestion include effort dyspnea ; orthopnea ; nocturnal paroxistic dyspnea ; rest dyspnea ; pulmonary stertors ; sibilance ; lower member edema ; jugular stasis ; third heart sound and radiological signs of congestion as segment inversion ; basal opacity ; pleural effusion ). the criteria for defining hypoperfusion included hypotension ( pas & lt ; 80 mmhg ); tachycardia ; thready pulse ; cold extremities ; slow capillary refill ; nauseas ; vomiting ; inappetence ; oliguria ; mental confusion . for the purposes of the example of embodiment of said non - invasive method of diagnosing the severity of hf , below are the results obtained from a study conducted in a quaternary hospital . the sampling of said example of embodiment comprised 61 patients accompanied at the heart failure outpatients center and 23 of these patients fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in the study ( groups 3 — conghf or 4 — lohf ). among the patients accompanied at the heart failure outpatients center , 25 stable patients were submitted to the cardiopulmonary test , and of these 17 fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in group 2 — comphf . twenty patients were selected to participate as control groups , and were sorted by age ( average age of 50 . 0 ± 12 , 66 % male and 80 % white ). the reasons for excluding patients from the study were : presence of diabetes mellitus ( n = 27 ); absence of the use of carvedilol ( n = 6 ); absence of the use of ieca or bra ( n = 2 ); creatinine greater than 2 . 5 mg / dl ( n = 7 ); patient refusal ( n = 2 ) and pulmonary infection ( n = 1 ). therefore , 61 patients took part in the assay , of which 20 were from group 1 ( control ); 17 from group 2 ( comphf ); 13 from group 3 ( conghf ) and 11 from group 4 ( lohf ) as demonstrated in fig1 . for purposes of comparison and proof of the efficiency of the non - invasive diagnosis method proposed by the present invention , each patient was submitted to an invasive method by bnp dosage ( b - type atrial natriuretic peptide ) described in detail in the background of the invention , with collection of blood samples with bnp dosage besides the determination of serum catecholamines , renal function and electrolytes , hemogram , coagulogram , transaminases and lactate , and urine sample to evaluate ketonic bodies and glucose . the non - invasive diagnosis method comprises the step of collecting samples of exhaled air from patients . this step is preferably carried out by using the collector device , object of the present invention , but without restricting the scope thereof . said device is suitable for efficiently collecting the acetone , the biomarker of the proposed method . the step following collection of exhaled air comprises sample transfer to a capped vial and storage of the sample preferably under cooled conditions until the chemical analysis is carried out , if not immediately . in the present example of embodiment , the storage and / or transport temperature was approximately − 80 ° c . but without restricting the scope thereof . this step is called filling step . the next step corresponds to the analysis of the chemical profile , detection of the acetone and quantification thereof . this step is not the object of protection of the present invention and can be selected in accordance with the availability of analytical equipment such as , for example , gas chromatography , spectrophotometry and others . in the example of embodiment of said detection and quantification of the acetone biomarker , two analytical techniques were selected based on gc - ms and by spectrophotometric method . as regards the statistical analysis , the student t - test was used for comparison between proportions for continuous numerical variables and the chi square distribution or fisher &# 39 ; s exact test was employed used for qualitative variables . the evaluation of the difference between the groups in terms of concentration of acetone was performed by the kruskal - wallis non - parametric test , complemented by the dunn test to show among which groups there were differences . to evaluate the difference between the groups for bnp , a logarithmic transformation was needed , followed by the bonferroni test . spearman &# 39 ; s rank correlation coefficient was used to describe the relationship between the variables . table 1 bears a list of the general characteristics of the patients with hf and the control group and table 2 shows the specific data of the patients with hf divided into three groups . iccomp : compensated heart failure ; iccong : heart failure with congestion ; icbxdb : heart failure with low output ; cf : functional class ; ieca : angiotensin - converting enzyme inhibitors ii ; bra : angiotensin receptor blockers ii ; has : arterial hypertension ; dpoc : chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ; iam : myocardial infarction ; avc : vascular cerebral accident . fig2 and 3 exemplify the results of the analysis by gc - ms of two patients included in the study : one from the control group ( fig2 ) and one from the group lohf ( fig3 ). panel a shows the total ion current ( tic ) of the mass spectrometer ( current summation at the nine mass / charge ratios listed in the figure ), for a chromatogram of each sample and panel b shows the mass spectrum recorded during the elution of the second peak , identified as being acetone . the statistically significant difference between the groups for the concentration of acetone found ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) was due to the significant difference between groups lohf ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) and conghf ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) in relation to group comphf and between groups lohf ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) and conghf ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) in relation to the control group ( table 3 , fig4 ). there was also a significant difference between the groups for the concentration of bnp ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ), due to the difference between control and all the other groups ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) and comphf and all the other groups ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) ( table 3 , fig5 ). the concentration of serum catecholamines was also different between the groups ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ), due to the difference between control and all the other groups ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) and comphf and all the other groups ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) ( table 3 ). there was a positive correlation ( r = 0 . 878 , p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) between the concentrations of acetone determined by different analytical methods ( spectrophotometric and by chromatography and mass spectrometry ) as illustrated in fig6 . there was also a positive correlation between the concentration of acetone and of bnp ( r = 0 . 716 , p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) as illustrated in fig7 . determining the concentration of acetone in exhaled air of patients with heart failure as well as bnp , an invasive biomarker of the severity of heart failure already celebrated in literature , provided to be a good forecaster of the severity of the disease , since concentrations greater than 2 . 6 mcg / l indicated sensitivity of 87 . 5 % and specificity of 88 . 2 % for diagnosing decompensated hf with diagnostic accuracy of 87 . 8 %, regardless of the type of decompensation , be it by congestion or by low output , and this new biomarker has the advantage of being a non - invasive method . table 4 shows the sensitivity and specificity values for diagnosing chronic hf and severity of hf ( decompensated hf ) both for exhaled acetone and for bnp . being non - invasive , the present invention thus compares favorably with the invasive method of the bnp biomarker of severity of heart failure already celebrated in literature . ( a ) analysis of acetone in the exhaled air as a biomarker of heart failure wherein the detection and quantification of the acetone can be made by any suitable technique for direct analysis or after sample collection , which may be selected from a group comprising , but not limited to : chromatography , mass spectrometry , infra - red or ultra - violet - visible spectrophotometry , gas sensors and electronic noses ; ( b ) indication of the severity of heart failure in accordance with the following ranges : ( b1 ) acetone concentration with a preferable upper limit of 0 . 85 mcg / l indicates that the patient does not have a heart failure condition ; ( b2 ) acetone concentration with preferable lower and upper limits of 0 . 85 up to 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates compensated heart failure ; ( b3 ) acetone concentration with a preferable lower limit of 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates decompensated heart failure ( heart failure with congestion and / or heart failure with low output ). ( a ) means of analyzing acetone in the exhaled air as a biomarker of heart failure wherein the detection and quantification of the acetone can be made by any suitable technique for direct analysis or after sample collection , which may be selected from a group comprising , but not limited to : chromatography , mass spectrometry , infra - red or ultra - violet - visible spectrophotometry , gas sensors and electronic noses ; ( b ) means of indicating of the severity of heart failure in accordance with the following ranges : ( b1 ) acetone concentration with a preferable upper limit of 0 . 85 mcg / l indicates that the patient does not have a heart failure condition ; ( b2 ) acetone concentration with preferable lower and upper limits of 0 . 85 up to 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates compensated heart failure ; ( b3 ) acetone concentration with a preferable lower limit of 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates decompensated heart failure ( heart failure with congestion and / or heart failure with low output ). an additional object of the present invention is a non - invasive method of prognosticating heart failure comprising : ( a ) collection of a sample of exhaled air in a device that extracts one or more biomarkers from gaseous phase to a liquid phase comprising pure water , organic substances with high acetone affinity , chemical reagents or mixtures of substances that increase the retention efficiency of the biomarker of interest . ( b ) detection and quantification of the acetone biomarker in the sample of the exhaled air wherein the analytical technique can be selected from a group comprising , but not limited to : chromatography , mass spectrometry , infra - red or ultra - violet - visible spectrophotometry , gas sensors and electronic noses ; and ( c ) indication of the prognosis of the patient suffering from decompensated heart failure comprising the following ranges : ( c1 ) acetone concentration with a preferable upper limit of 0 . 85 mcg / l indicates that the patient does not have a heart failure condition ; ( c2 ) acetone concentration with preferable lower and upper limits of 0 . 85 up to 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates compensated heart failure ; ( c3 ) acetone concentration with a preferable lower limit of 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates decompensated heart failure ( heart failure with congestion and / or heart failure with low output ). an additional object of the present invention is a non - invasive method of prognosticating heart failure comprising : ( a ) means of collecting a sample of exhaled air in a device that extracts one or more biomarkers from gaseous phase to a liquid phase comprising pure water , organic substances with high acetone affinity , chemical reagents or mixtures of substances that increase the retention efficiency of the biomarker of interest . ( b ) means of detecting and quantificating the acetone biomarker in the sample of the exhaled air wherein the analytical technique can be selected from a group comprising , but not limited to : chromatography , mass spectrometry , infra - red or ultra - violet - visible spectrophotometry , gas sensors and electronic noses ; and ( c ) means of indicating of the prognosis of the patient suffering from decompensated heart failure comprising the following ranges : ( c1 ) acetone concentration with a preferable upper limit of 0 . 85 mcg / l indicates that the patient does not have a heart failure condition ; ( c2 ) acetone concentration with preferable lower and upper limits of 0 . 85 up to 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates compensated heart failure ; ( c3 ) acetone concentration with a preferable lower limit of 2 . 6 mcg / l indicates decompensated heart failure ( heart failure with congestion and / or heart failure with low output ). in the collection step ( a ) of said method , a substance having affinity with biomarker is preferably but not limited to water . in the collection step ( a ) of said method , a chemical reagent for the biomarker is preferably but not limited to 2 , 4 - dinitrophenylhydrazine ( dnph ). in the collection step ( a ) of said method , a substance having affinity with the biomarker is a mixture of water and 2 , 4 - dinitrophenylhydrazine ( dnph ). said collection step ( a ) is preferably at a temperature of between − 10 and 15 ° c . preferably between − 5 e 5 ° c . the temperature can be maintained , for example , through thermal gels , ice bath or metal cylinder inside a thermal insulator . said collection step ( a ) is conducted by exhaling air through the mouth into the device preferably up to a volume of 7 liters , limited by the volume defining bag . said collection step ( a ) is capable of retaining at least 0 . 5 μg / l of acetone in the sample of the exhaled air . according to the method described previously , between steps ( a ) and ( b ), there is a storage step of the collected sample at a temperature of between − 90 and − 0 ° c ., preferably between − 80 and − 20 ° c . the use of the acetone biomarker is now the first exhaled biomarker for heart failure , its dosage being made by non - invasive diagnosis method and may be related to higher severity of the disease , since the highest values were found in patients admitted to emergency with more serious clinical signs . thus in this present embodiment , the non - invasive diagnosis method proposed predicts the severity of heart failure . method of detecting , identifying and quantifying the biomarker , in addition to its equipment are known in the state of the art and , therefore , for full disclosure of the present invention , but without restricting the scope , the method of analysis , detection and quantification of the acetone by other techniques and devices is presented below . to identify the most significant chemicals added to exhaled air by patients with heart failure , in the present example of embodiment of said invention , but without restricting the scope thereof , the technique known as gc - ms was used , a combination of gas chromatography ( gc ) with mass spectrometry ( ms ), given its potential for multiple - constituent separation , identification and semi - quantitative determination in the samples , with high sensitivity and selectivity . gas chromatography ( gc ) is a physical separation method in which the sample is injected into a column , in this particular case , capillary with a suitably immobilized stationary phase on its inner wall . the separation of the components of the sample is , as a general rule , in accordance with its greater or lesser affinity with the stationary phase or the mobile gaseous phase . due to its simplicity , sensitivity and effectiveness to separate the components in the mixture , gas chromatography is one of the most important techniques in chemical analysis . mass spectrometry ( ms ) is an analytical technique of separating and detecting ions according to its mass - charge ratio by diverting its trajectory into a chamber under vacuum by applying electrical fields , in combination or not with magnetic fields . the molecules of the sample need to be ionized before introduction into the spectrometer , and the fragmentation of molecules also usually occurs in this process . based on the mass - charge ratio of the ions detected , it is generally possible to identify the molecules of origin , provided that the mixtures are not complex , in which case prior chromatographic separation is necessary . by these two methods , it is possible to detect the presence of acetone in the samples analyzed . for the exact quantification of the acetone biomarker , a spectrophotometric method was selected , but without restricting the scope , to measure the absorption of light in the wavelength having greater absorptiveness of the colored product of the reaction between acetone and salicylaldehyde ( spectrophotometric ). the method was adjusted so that it was only necessary to add 500 μl of colorimetric reagent ( salicylaldehyde solution in an alkaline medium ) to 500 μl of the sample , wait for the reaction to develop and measure the absorbance in a cuvette placed in the spectrophotometer , it being directly proportional to the concentration of acetone in the sample . calibration is carried out by submitting aqueous solutions with a known concentration of acetone to the same procedure . the results were converted into concentration of the acetone biomarker in the exhaled air . in the present invention the device for collecting exhaled air involves extraction by dissolution of the acetone exhaled into a fluid . some factors influence the efficiency of the collection : size and porosity of said diffuser described previously , thin pores generate smaller air bubbles favoring the dissolution of the acetone of said fluid ; level and temperature of the fluid and solubility of the acetone in said fluid . these factors allow greater contact , mixture and increased solubility of the biomarker , implying in greater sensitivity of the non - invasive diagnosis method . fig9 and 10 schematically represent examples of arrangements of said device , but without restricting the scope of their shapes and sizes . an additional object of the present invention is a device for collecting exhaled air which comprises : means for capturing the exhaled air from the patient ( 1 ); means for extracting and capturing ( 3 ) volatile compound ( s ) from the exhaled air of the patient especially a biomarker of interest ; means of diffusing the exhaled air ( 4 ) into means for capturing ( 5 ) a biomarker ; means for indirectly cooling ( 6 ) the capturing means ( 5 ); means of insulating said device from the external conditions ( 7 ) and , means for reading the total volume of exhaled air collected ( 8 ). the means of diffusing the exhaled air described previously ( 4 ) are preferably made of porous material or fine holes arranged to guarantee the formation of sufficiently small air bubbles as a means of increasing the contact surface between the volatile compounds contained in the air , especially the exposure of the biomarker and capturing means ( 5 ). the means for extracting and capturing said biomarker ( 5 ) have a high chemical affinity with acetone . said device for collecting exhaled air comprises : a sample - receiving element ( 1 ) arranged to conduct the patient &# 39 ; s breath ; a connector duct ( 2 ) between the element of contact with the patient and a collector element ( 3 ); said collector element ( 3 ) comprises a diffuser element ( 4 ) in its output cavity , said diffuser element being submersed in a liquid element ( 5 ), means for extracting and capturing the biomarker ; contained in a recipient , preferably made of glass or plastic ; a liquid , solid ( ice ), mixed or thermoelectric ( 6 ) cooling element in contact with the outer walls of said recipient ( 5 ); a thermal insulating element ( 7 ); a volume measuring element ( 8 ). a preferred arrangement of said device for collecting exhaled air comprises : a sample - receiving element ( 1 ) arranged to conduct the patient &# 39 ; s breath ; a connector duct ( 2 ) between the element of contact with the patient and a collector element ( 3 ); said collector element ( 3 ) comprises a diffuser element ( 4 ) in its output cavity , said diffuser element being submersed in a fluid element ( 5 ), means for extracting and capturing the biomarker ; a cooling fluid element ( 6 ) indirectly contacting said fluid element ( 5 ); an insulating element ( 7 ) and , an element for retaining the exhaled air set up to measure the total volume of exhaled air collected ( 8 ). said diffuser element ( 4 ) described previously is made of porous material set up to guarantee the formation of sufficiently small air bubbles as a means of increasing the contact surface between the volatile compounds contained in the air , especially the exposure of the biomarker to the fluid element ( 5 ). the liquid element ( 5 ) described previously is a substance having high chemical affinity with acetone selected from the group comprising water , organic compounds and a mixture thereof . in the embodiment example of said invention , the fluid ( 5 ) comprises a volume preferably of 5 ml and a temperature lower than ambient temperature as a means of rising between 2 and 4 times henry &# 39 ; s constant value allowing a more efficient collection of the biomarker . said diffuser element ( 4 ) as a means of increasing the contact surface of the gas / liquid and can be selected from the group of porous materials comprising sintered glass or a polymeric tube with various micro - perforations in the closed end region , preferably disposable . the fluid ( 5 ), a means to increase the capture efficiency of the biomarker , comprises a composition selected from the group of water or other compounds , with or without addition of chemical reagents . use of acetone as biomarker for diagnosing the severity of heart failure according to its concentration levels . an additional object of the present invention is a kit for diagnosing decompensated heart failure comprising a device for collecting exhaled breath air ; a fluid for extracting and capturing the biomarker kept cooled ; an insulating case for housing the sample containing biomarker and fluid after collection ; a biomarker standards kit in different concentrations as a means of calibrating the analytical equipment for guiding the diagnosis based on the analytical technique preferably involving gas chromatography , and a manual as a means of indicating content ranges of the biomarker for diagnosing the severity of decompensated heart failure in view of the content of the biomarker detected .
the invention application presents a fast , efficient , reproductive alternative of a non - invasive method for diagnosing the severity of heart failure based on a specific biomarker . an additional object of the present invention is a collector device for the biomarker from exhaled breath that is portable , simple , low cost and does not need to run on electric power . this invention advantageously permits the replacement of invasive diagnosis methods , favoring the patient &# 39 ; s comfort in addition to the agility and speed of medical attention at hospitals , and may become a standard method for all suspected cases of circulatory disease and heart failure and , more specifically , decompensated heart failure .