ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2023
Microbial Volatiles as Diagnostic Biomarkers of Bacterial Lung Infection in Mechanically Ventilated Patients.
Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Respirator-integrated continuous gas sampling for broadband optical spectroscopy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived volatile organic compounds modulate AhR signaling to dysregulate airway mucus homeostasis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Leucine degradation metabolite ratio as a measure of meropenem susceptibility in carbapenem-resistantMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Exhaled breath volatiles for asthma diagnosis: discovery and validation in untreated but symptomatic patients.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Harnessing breath biomarkers for pneumonia diagnosis and prognosis.Expert review of respiratory medicine · 2026Review
- Headspace Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Profiling of Infected and Non-Infected Wound Swabs-A Pilot Study.Biomolecules · 2026Article
- Urine volatile organic compounds profiling via GC-IMS combined with machine learning: a powerful diagnostic and pathogen differentiation tool for urinary tract infections.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Mechanisms and clinical research progress of IL-6-mediated crosstalk between the alveolar microenvironment and the immune system in patients with severe pneumonia undergoing mechanical ventilation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Construction of an auxiliary diagnostic model for secondary pulmonary bacterial infection in influenza based on routine detection indicators.American journal of translational research · 2026Article
- Invasive ventilator exhaust in critical care: aerosol transmission risks and management strategies-a narrative review.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Review
- Diagnostic testing and antibiotic stewardship for pneumonia in children worldwide: current developments and next steps.Current opinion in pediatrics · 2025Review
- Profiling of Volatile Metabolites ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Review
- The detection and utilization of volatile metabolomics in Klebsiella pneumoniae by gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- New methods to detect bacterial or viral infections in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Expert review of respiratory medicine · 2024Review
- The Potential of Fecal Volatile Organic Compound Analysis for the Early Diagnosis of Late-Onset Sepsis in Preterm Infants: A Narrative Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Volatilomes of human infection.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2024Review
- GC-MS-based metabolomics of volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath: applications in health and disease. A review.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly and accurate recognition of respiratory pathogens is crucial to prevent increased risk of mortality in critically ill patients. Microbial-derived volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) in exhaled breath could be used as noninvasive biomarkers of infection to support clinical diagnosis.
methodsIn this study, we investigated the diagnostic potential of in vitro-confirmed mVOCs in the exhaled breath of patients under mechanical ventilation from the BreathDx study. Samples were analyzed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
resultsPathogens from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cultures were identified in 45 of 89 patients and Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly identified pathogen (n = 15). Of 19 mVOCs detected in the in vitro culture headspace of 4 common respiratory pathogens (S. aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli), 14 were found in exhaled breath samples. Higher concentrations of 2 mVOCs were found in the exhaled breath of patients infected with S. aureus compared to those without (3-methylbutanal: P < .01, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] = 0.81-0.87; and 3-methylbutanoic acid: P = .01, AUROC = 0.79-0.80). In addition, bacteria identified from BAL cultures that are known to metabolize tryptophan (E. coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Haemophilus influenzae) were grouped and found to produce higher concentrations of indole compared to breath samples with culture-negative (P = .034) and other pathogen-positive (P = .049) samples.
conclusionsThis study demonstrates the capability of using mVOCs to detect the presence of specific pathogen groups with potential to support clinical diagnosis. Although not all mVOCs were found in patient samples within this small pilot study, further targeted and qualitative investigation is warranted using multicenter clinical studies.
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