Breath Test May Enable Rapid, Drug Toxicology Screening

A commercially available breath sampling device (SensAbues AB, Sweden) can effectively detect 12 illicit drugs in exhaled breath, according to a study published April 26 in the Journal of Breath Research. With an increasing focus on alternative specimens for noninvasive drug testing, the researchers say their findings may bring roadside drug testing closer to a reality. “Since exhaled breath may be as easy to collect as in alcohol breath testing it may present a new more accessible matrix than blood at the roadside and elsewhere when the sampling procedure is an obstacle,” write the authors, led by Olof Beck, an adjunct professor of analytical toxicology and pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. In the future, Beck says, the test could be combined with alcohol breath tests. Breath, plasma, and urine samples were collected from 47 patients (38 males) undergoing recovery from acute intoxication in an emergency department. Collections occurred approximately 24 hours after last intake of drugs. The commercial breath device contained a mouthpiece and filter that traps larger particles and allows only microparticles to pass through. A chromatographic method was developed that allowed for the measurement of all analytes in the same run. Urine was screened using immunochemical […]