[Kushch2008]
Kushch, I., K. Schwarz, L. Schwentner, B. Baumann, A. Dzien, A. Schmid, K. Unterkofler, G. Gastl, P. Span?l, D. Smith, et al.,
"Compounds enhanced in a mass spectrometric profile of smokers' exhaled breath versus non-smokers as determined in a pilot study using PTR-MS.",
J Breath Res, vol. 2, no. 2: Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Breath Research Unit of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dammstrasse 22, A-6850 Dornbirn, Austria., pp. 026002, Jun, 2008.
Link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/2/2/026002
{A pilot study has been carried out to define typical characteristics of the trace gas compounds in exhaled breath of non-smokers and smokers to assist interpretation of breath analysis data from patients who smoke with respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Exhaled breath was analyzed using proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) for 370 volunteers (81 smokers, 210 non-smokers, 79 ex-smokers). Volatile organic compounds corresponding to product ions at seven mass-to-charge ratios (m/z 28, 42, 69, 79, 93, 97, 123) in the PTR-MS spectra differentiated between smokers and non-smokers. The Youden index (= maximum of sensitivity + specificity - 1, YI) as a measure for differentiation between smokers and non-smokers was YI = 0.43 for ions at the m/z values 28 (tentatively identified as HCN)