Exploring breath metabolomics as a non-invasive tool for detecting pulmonary vascular disease
S. Basler, K. Fricke, N.A. Sievi1, A. Arvaji, F.Schmidt, J. Herth, D.M. Baur, M.Kohler, S.Ulrich, and M. Lichtblau
Abstract
Breath metabolome profiling for pulmonary vascular disease detection
This study evaluated whether real-time breath analysis could identify metabolic differences between patients with pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) and healthy controls, and distinguish between two major subtypes: pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Using metabolomic prediction models, breath profiles from 75 patients and 115 controls were compared. The models achieved high accuracy in detecting PVD (AUC = 0.917) and moderate accuracy in differentiating PAH from CTEPH (AUC = 0.764). Pathway analysis revealed alterations in fatty acid metabolism. These findings highlight the potential of breath analysis as a non-invasive, real-time diagnostic tool for early detection and subtype differentiation in PVD.