Association Between Responses to Inhaled Bronchodilator or Inhaled Bronchoconstrictor Challenge and Exhaled Breath Temperature assessed by the X-halo portable hand held device

Abstract

T U E S D A Y 863 Association Between Responses to Inhaled Bronchodilator or Inhaled Bronchoconstrictor Challenge and Exhaled Breath Temperature assessed by the X-halo portable hand held device T. A. Popov, T. Z. Kralimarkova, T. Grigorova, R. Mincheva, G. Garcia, A. Yanez, M. Bergna, V. D. Dimitrov, L. M. DuBuske; Clinic of Allergy and Asthma, Sofia, BULGARIA, Pneumology, CENASMA, La Plata, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, Pneumology, INAER, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, Pneumology, Hospital Antonio Cetr angolo, Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, Immunology Research Institute of New England, Gardner, MA. RATIONALE: Exhaled breath temperature (EBT) may be a surrogate marker of inflammatory processes in the intrathoracic airways. A high precision user-friendly portable handheld device (PHD) for its measurement is now commercially available. This study assessed the effect of pharmacological agents affecting airway caliber on EBT. METHODS: Patients from healthcare facilities in Sofia, Bulgaria and Buenos Aires, Argentina were studied including 65 subjects with asthma and 16 healthy controls (30 females, mean age 46 years, age range 18-79 years) for bronchodilation tests (BDT) with albuterol, and 24 subjects with suspected asthma (18 females, mean age 35 years, age range 9-55 years) for methacholine challenge (MC). All subjects had EBT measured with the PHD (X-halo, Delmedica, Singapore) before and after the respective procedure. RESULTS: EBT did not significantly change from before to after BDT irrespective of whether the test was positive but more than half the subjects displayed a change in their EBT, more than the 60.258C range demonstrated to be the typical of the reproducibility of EBT with 24 subjects (33%) having increased and 16 (22%) decreased EBT and no correlation between the change of EBT and the level of bronchodilation. The correlation between the change in EBT after MC and after BDTl was significant (R5-0.75, P50.023). CONCLUSIONS: EBT does not change consistently after BDT and MC in asthmatics or healthy controls we tested although the clinical significance of EBT changes more than 60.258C needs further study.