Detection of bromamines and chloramines in breath samples for detecting asthma

摘要

A method of detecting chioramines and bromamines using flow tube, drift tube or atmospheric chemical ionisation technologies is disclosed, which comprises the steps of: injecting individual breaths of a patient into a stream of helium or a mixture of inert gases containing precursor ions, ionizing by means of flow tube, drift tube or atmospheric chemical ionisation methodology the reactive metabolites in the stream to form product ions, determining the ratio of product ions to precursor ions, analyzing each trace gas constituent and comparing the level of each gas constituent against a predetermined level to determine the levels of bromamines or chioramines in the breath of the patient. The method is suitable for the detection of lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and oxidative stress related disease.