Metabonomics and diagnostics.

Metabonomic techniques have considerable potential in the field of clinical diagnostics, typifying the application of a translational research paradigm. Care must be taken at all stages to apply appropriate methodology with accurate patient selection and profiling, and rigorous data acquisition and handling, to ensure clinical validity.An ever-increasing number of publications in a wide range of diseases and diverse patient groups suggest a variety of potential clinical uses; prospective studies in large validation cohorts are required to bring metabonomics into routine clinical practice. In this chapter, the utility of metabonomics as a diagnostic tool will be discussed.