Solid phase microextraction for analysis of alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons in human breath

In this work, solid phase microextraction-gas chromatograph (SPME-GC) was applied to analyze alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons in human breath, providing a potential non-invasive method to screen lung cancer. This method has been optimized and evaluated. It provided quantification limits ranging from 0.04 to 4.2 ng/mL, linear correlations ranging from 0.9845 to 0.9966 and R.S.D. values less than 9.8%. Total 30 breath samples, from 15 lung cancer patients and 15 healthy persons, were analyzed, and the alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons were detected in 73.3% lung cancer patients and in 13.3% healthy persons by this method. Above all, It was demonstrated that this SPME-GC method provided a sensitive and non-invasive measure means to analyze alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons in human breath, and brought forward a potential application for screening lung cancer.