title: 8-Isoprostane in the exhaled breath condensate of children hospitalized for status asthmaticus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the safety and feasibility of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection in children recovering from status asthmaticus (SA) in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU); and to investigate whether 8-isoprostane (8-Iso) could be detected in the EBC of these children and to compare its concentration with that in the EBC collected from healthy children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multidisciplinary PICU in a teaching hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen consecutive patients (7-18 yrs of age) with SA and 16 age- and sex-matched controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Wood clinical asthma score and the pulmonary index were used to assess the clinical severity of patients with SA upon admission to the PICU. EBC samples were collected within 24 hrs of admission to the PICU and were analyzed for the concentration of 8-Iso.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data are presented as mean ± sd values. There were no differences in age (12 ± 3.3 yrs vs.12 ± 2 yrs, p > .05) or sex (n = 10 males and n = 6 females in each group), between SA patients and controls. All patients with SA and the controls completed the EBC collection without complications. There was no statistically significant difference in the pulmonary index (3.2 ± 2.7 vs. 3.1 ± 2.8, p 0.9) post collection of EBC compared with the baseline values. There was a statistically significant correlation between Wood score and pulmonary index at the time of admission to the PICU in children with SA (r = .7, p < .01). The concentration of 8-Iso was significantly higher in the EBC of children with SA compared with controls (14.3 ± 1.8 pg/mL vs. 5.2 ± 0.7 pg/mL, p < .001). The correlation between the concentration 8-Iso and either the pulmonary index or Wood score at the time admission to the PICU was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EBC collection is well tolerated by children aged 7-18 yrs who are recovering from SA in a PICU. 8-Iso is elevated in the EBC from children with SA and may provide insight into the biochemical changes of oxidative stress in children in this clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Mercy Children's Hospital, Toledo, OH, USA. rashedh48@gmail.com
authors.forename: Rashed A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hasan
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Ramalinga
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001944:Breath Tests; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D045853:Exhalation; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D028421:Isoprostanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013224:Status Asthmaticus / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D028421:Isoprostanes