title: Exhaled breath condensate: a comprehensive update.
abstract: Since the late 1990s, a surge in interest in the analysis of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) resulted in the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) organising a Task Force in 2001 to develop guidelines on EBC collection and measurement of biomarkers. This Task Force published their guidelines in 2005 based on literature and expert opinions at that time, and multiple shortcomings and knowledge deficits were also identified. The clinical application of EBC collection and its biomarkers are currently still limited by several of these knowledge gaps, hence further guidelines for standardisation are required to ensure external validity. Using related articles produced since the publication of the ATS/ERS Task Force report, this paper attempts to provide a comprehensive update to the original guideline and review the methodological shortcomings identified. This review can hopefully serve as a yardstick for future studies involving this emerging clinical tool.
authors: Inflammation and Infection Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors: Hasib
authors: H
authors: Ahmadzai
authors: Shuying
authors: S
authors: Huang
authors: Ravin
authors: R
authors: Hettiarachchi
authors: Jiun-Lih
authors: JL
authors: Lin
authors: Paul S
authors: PS
authors: Thomas
authors: Qi
authors: Q
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000592:standards*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001944:Breath Tests / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis; D015777:Eicosanoids / Q000032:analysis; D045853:Exhalation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000032:analysis; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D015777:Eicosanoids; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide