Exhaled Breath May Be Key To New Drug Testing Future

The most common means of drug testing are through urine samples. However, one common problem with this means of testing is that collecting urine can be inconvenient for those undergoing the test.

Now, a group of researchers from the department of Laboratory Medicine at the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden have worked on developing a more donor-friendly alternative that involves testing through exhaled breath.

"The underlying mechanism in exhaled breath drug testing is believed to be the formation of aerosol particles from the airway lining fluid by the breathing process. These aerosol particles may become contaminated with drugs present in the body, which enables drugs to be highlighted. A simple collection device is currently available which selectively collects the micrometer aerosol particles on a filter and enables further laboratory investigation of possible drug content," explained Lead study author Professor Olof Beck of the institute, in a news release. 

These researchers developed the first fully validated and robust screening method for the routine measurement of drugs of abuse in exhaled breath. The procedure is really quite simple in that it follows a highly sensitive analytical technique that's known as LC-MS (Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry). The following drug groups are also available via these techniques: amphetamines, methamphetamines, cannabis, cocaine and heroin.

Researchers even believe that these methods of drug testing could be used routinely in roadside related DUID testing in the future.
"Yes, I see many possible applications of breath drug testing. DUID is only one; workplace, criminal justice, accidents and compliance monitoring of patients are others," Olof added. "For DUID, the short detection time is relevant since the state of influence is in focus, and this combined with the convenient sampling procedure makes it an attractive solution for roadside testing."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Elsevier.

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