Exhaled Aldehydes as Biomarkers for Lung Diseases: A Narrative Review
Maximilian Alexander Floss,
Tobias Fink,
Felix Maurer,
Thomas Volk,
Sascha Kreuer,
Lukas Martin Müller-Wirtz
Affiliations
Maximilian Alexander Floss
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Tobias Fink
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Felix Maurer
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Thomas Volk
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Sascha Kreuer
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Lukas Martin Müller-Wirtz
CBR—Center of Breath Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Therapy, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Breath analysis provides great potential as a fast and non-invasive diagnostic tool for several diseases. Straight-chain aliphatic aldehydes were repeatedly detected in the breath of patients suffering from lung diseases using a variety of methods, such as mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, or electro-chemical sensors. Several studies found increased concentrations of exhaled aldehydes in patients suffering from lung cancer, inflammatory and infectious lung diseases, and mechanical lung injury. This article reviews the origin of exhaled straight-chain aliphatic aldehydes, available detection methods, and studies that found increased aldehyde exhalation in lung diseases.
