The first baseline analysis of healthy human breath brings closer the possibility of routine diagnosis of disease from exhaled air. Over 70 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified by Pawel Mochalski and colleagues from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who used headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) to pre-concentrate samples prior to their analysis by GC-MS.
Breath analysis for healthcare is a hot topic, with the ultimate goal being a device that can identify an illness from a single breath at your doctor’s surgery. Although this is still some way off, breath chemistry is used currently to monitor some conditions. Exhaled nitric oxide is used to keep tabs on asthma and tuberculosis (TB), while hydrocarbons can warn of the impending rejection of a transplanted heart.
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Blood and breath levels of selected volatile organic compounds in healthy volunteers
Paweł Mochalski, Julian King, Martin Klieber, Karl Unterkofler, Hartmann Hinterhuber, Matthias Baumann and Anton Amann Analyst, 2013,138, 2134-2145
DOI: 10.1039/C3AN36756H
