Journal of chromatography. A
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The gas chromatographic profiles of exhaled air from lung cancer patients have been investigated. The breath from healthy volunteers, smokers and non-smokers, and lung cancer patients without treatment and under radio and/or chemotherapy, was collected using Tedlar bags. Different profiles for healthy people and cancer patients could be recognized by multivariate analysis and significant diagnostic compounds could be established. ⋯ The method showed good precision (RSD below 26%) and limit of detection ranged from 0.04 to 8.0ppb. These findings show a high potential for establishment of laboratorial screening methods. Validation studies in a larger number of patients are being done.