PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Pouline MP van Oort
AU  - Tamara M Nijsen
AU  - Iain R White
AU  - Hugo H Knobel
AU  - Timothy Felton
AU  - Nicholas Rattray
AU  - Oluwasola Lawal
AU  - Murtaza Bulut
AU  - Waqar Ahmed
AU  - Antonio Artigas
AU  - Pedro R Povoa
AU  - Ignacio Martin-Loeches
AU  - Hans Weda
AU  - Royston Goodacre
AU  - Marcus J Schultz
AU  - Paul M Dark
AU  - Stephen J Fowler
AU  - Lieuwe D Bos
ED  - ,
TI  - Untargeted Molecular Analysis of Exhaled Breath as a Diagnostic Test for Ventilator-Associated Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (BreathDx)
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2021-217362
DP  - 2021 Jun 04
TA  - Thorax
PG  - thoraxjnl-2021-217362
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/01/thoraxjnl-2021-217362.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/01/thoraxjnl-2021-217362.full
AB  - Patients suspected of ventilator-associated lower respiratory tract infections (VA-LRTIs) commonly receive broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy unnecessarily. We tested whether exhaled breath analysis can discriminate between patients suspected of VA-LRTI with confirmed infection, from patients with negative cultures. Breath from 108 patients suspected of VA-LRTI was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The breath test had a sensitivity of 98% at a specificity of 49%, confirmed with a second analytical method. The breath test had a negative predictive value of 96% and excluded pneumonia in half of the patients with negative cultures. Trial registration number: UKCRN ID number 19086, registered May 2015.