Breath volatile organic compounds of lung transplant recipients with and without chronic lung allograft dysfunction

Introduction. Chronic lung allograft dysfunction with its clinical correlative of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) remains the major limiting factor for long-term graft survival. Currently there are no established methods for the early diagnosis or prediction of BOS. To assess the feasibility of breath collection as a non-invasive tool and the potential of breath volatile organic compounds (VOC) for the early detection of BOS, we compared the breath VOC composition between transplant patients without and different stages of BOS. Methods. 75 outpatients (25 BOS stage 0, 25 BOS stage 1  + 2, 25 BOS stage 3) after bilateral lung transplantation were included. Exclusion criteria were active smoking, oxygen therapy and acute infection. Patients inhaled room air through a VOC and sterile filter and exhaled into an aluminum reservoir tube. Breath was loaded directly onto Tenax ® TA adsorption tubes and was subsequently analyzed by gas-chromatography/mass-...
Source: Journal of Breath Research - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Source Type: research