EXHALED BREATH ANALYSIS IN OCCUPATIONALMEDICINE

The need for new non-invasive methods which would provide a rapid, effective and non-invasive approach to biological monitoring and management of professional exposures to harmful pollutants, and for a diagnostics of professional inflammatory diseases of the lung has resulted in development of novel diagnostic tools. Recently, as several studies have demonstrated, these non-invasive techniques, such as induced sputum or analysis of exhaled air; exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) or exhaled breath condensate (EBC) provide fairly reliable results that correlate with those of gold standard“ methods (bronchoalveolar lavage) which are more invasive and uncomfortable for patients. Although novel approaches have attracted the attention of scientists, they have not thus far been examined in relation to occupational settings and professional diseases. The eNO analysis can serve as an easy and comfortable diagnostic tool for professional asthma after exposure to various allergen agents. The examination of EBC biomarkers provides an assessment of local doses of hard metals in the lung, as well as detection of markers of oxidative stress. The techniques listed in this chapter may serve in the future as optimal tools for diagnosis of occupational respiratory diseases and for screening/monitoring programs following inhalation exposures.