Physiological measurement
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Physiological measurement · Mar 2008
Comparative StudyDevelopment of a protocol to measure volatile organic compounds in human breath: a comparison of rebreathing and on-line single exhalations using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry.
Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on human breath has great potential as a non-invasive diagnostic technique. It is, therefore, surprising that no single, standard procedure has evolved for breath sampling. Here we present a novel repeated-cycle isothermal rebreathing method, where one cycle comprises five rebreaths, which could be adopted for breath analysis of VOCs. ⋯ The slope of the isoprene expirogram is persistently linear and the end-expired concentration of isoprene is highly variable in the same subject depending on the duration of exhalation. End-expired values of acetone are not as sensitive to the length of exhalation, and are the same to within measurement uncertainty for any duration of exhalation for any subject. It is concluded that uncontrolled single on-line exhalations are not suitable for the reliable measurement of isoprene in the breath and that rebreathing can be the basis of an easily tolerated protocol for the reliable collection of breath samples.