Breath Discovery based on Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Classification and Differentiation Models for Lung Diseases

Since the begin of the century ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) coupled to multi-capillary columns (MCC) are used to investigate the metabolic profile of human breath. Some mL exhaled air are introduced directly into the spectrometer. Using MCC an analysis in humid air is realised. During less than 10 minutes so called IMS-Chromatogramme are obtained. The identity of the analyte is characterised using the drift- and the retention time. A quantification could be realised using the volume of the signal. Coupling the MCC/IMS with spirometric systems allows sampling strategies under consideration of dead volume, flow control and CO2 content. Automatic, databased supported procedures support the interpretation of the signals to characterise the analytes. In the present paper we describe the method, the data analysis procedure and the results obtained with respect to COPD, lung cancer, sarcoidosis, lung fibrosis. The results are not affected by the smoking status. The potential of the method is shown by the separation of a lung cancer and a healthy control group. In addition, the separation between different types of tumor are shown (solitary peripherical nodule, endobronchial).