Current status of methods and techniques for breath analysis

Due to the great potentials in clinical diagnosis, disease state monitoring, and environmental exposure assessment, the breath test is becoming one of the most desirable noninvasive procedures for clinical diagnostics. This article reviews the technical aspects of breath analysis including sample collection, analyte preconcentration, vapor desorption, and various measurement techniques, as well as some recent developments in the field. Because the exhaled breath is affected by the composition of ambient air, the elimination of background influence on the analyte detection is also discussed. Both advantages and major obstacles of breath analysis techniques in clinical practice are presented and summarized.