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Measuring exhaled breath condensates in infants

Alexander Moeller1, Peter Franklin, Graham L Hall

  • 1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. alexander.moeller@kispi.unizh.ch

Pediatric Pulmonology
|December 24, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Collecting exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in infants is feasible and safe. This new method successfully gathered significant EBC volumes, offering a promising noninvasive tool for infant respiratory health monitoring.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Biomarker Discovery
  • Respiratory Physiology

Background:

  • Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) shows potential as a noninvasive marker for airway diseases.
  • Early disease detection is crucial, necessitating reliable methods for analyzing EBC in infants.
  • Current EBC collection methods are not well-established for this age group.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a novel, safe, and feasible method for collecting EBC in infants.
  • To compare EBC yields from oral versus nasal breathing in infants.
  • To assess the correlation between EBC volume and infant physiological parameters.

Main Methods:

  • A custom-made device was used to collect EBC from 54 infants (1-30 months) during sedated sleep.
  • Collections were performed for 10 minutes, with attempts at both nasal and oral breathing.
  • Oral breathing involved a mask over the mouth with nasal occlusion; nasal breathing used a mask over the nose and mouth with the mouth closed.

Main Results:

  • Successful EBC collection was achieved in 53 out of 54 infants, with volumes ranging from 50-550 microliters.
  • Significantly greater EBC volumes were collected during oral breathing (354.3 microl) compared to nasal breathing (277.5 microl; P=0.03).
  • Collected EBC volume correlated with infant age, length, weight, and minute ventilation, with no adverse effects on vital signs.

Conclusions:

  • The described method is safe and feasible for collecting EBC in infants and young children.
  • This technique yields sufficient EBC volumes for potential biomarker analysis.
  • The findings support the use of EBC as a noninvasive tool for monitoring infant respiratory health.

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