PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Arne Gaida
AU  - Olaf Holz
AU  - Shirin Nahidi
AU  - Sven Schuchardt
AU  - Christoph Nell
AU  - Rembert Koczulla
AU  - Jens Hohlfeld
TI  - Breath volatile organic compound (VOC) COPD study at two DZL centers - Evaluation of site-specific VOC
AID  - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA2086
DP  - 2015 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - PA2086
VI  - 46
IP  - suppl 59
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA2086.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA2086.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2015 Sep 01; 46
AB  - In a two-center collaboration study we collected breath samples of COPD patients and controls and evaluated the impact of site and shipment on VOC sample quality and composition.Tenax tubes were conditioned in Hannover and shipped to Marburg. Breath collection was performed using identical sampling devices (inhalation via A2 filter and exhalation (flow control) into a stainless steel reservoir), but different mouth pieces. 3L of breath were continuously drawn onto 2 adsorption tubes. For this analysis we used data of 10 non-smoking subjects and 10 smokers from each site. 65 commonly observed substances were chosen for single-ion analysis.The chromatograms showed major site specific VOC peaks which could not or only in traces be found in samples collected at the respective other site. Most of these VOCs could not be detected in the accompanied room air samples, excluding room air or shipment as potential sources. Among the VOCs that discriminated sites were 2-Butyl-1-octanol and 1-Phenoxy-2-propanon, the latter being known to be part of cleaning solutions. No significant differences could be observed between sites with respect to the levels of Benzene, which clearly discriminated active smokers from controls at both sites.We found site-specific VOCs which could be linked to different cleaning procedures. These VOCs did not show a negative impact on the analysis of breath-related VOCs, but need to be considered as site specific effects in multicenter-studies when using cross-reactive sensor devices (eNoses). The comparable level of benzene indicates that shipping of thermal-desorption tubes does not contaminate breath samples and that shipment between sites is feasible.