Exhaled breath analysis: The new interface between medicine and engineering

Exhaled breath testing is becoming an increasingly important non-invasive diagnostic method that can be used in the evaluation of health and disease states in the lung and beyond. Potential advantages of breath tests over other conventional medical tests include their non-invasive nature, low cost, and safety. To advance in this area further, however, there has to be a close collaboration between technical experts and engineers who have devices looking for clinical application(s), the medical experts who have the clinical problems looking for a test/biomarker that can be helpful in diagnosis or monitoring, and industry/commercial experts who can build and commercialize the final product. (C) 2009 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.