Breath Test

A breath test is a type of test performed on air generated from the act of exhalation.

Types include:

  • Breathalyzer - By far the most common usage of this term relates to the legal breath test to determine if a person is driving under the influence of alcohol.
  • Hydrogen breath test - it is becoming more and more common for people to undertake a medical test for clinical diagnosis of dietary disabilities such as fructose intolerance, fructose malabsorption, lactose intolerance and lactulose intolerance.
  • The presence of Helicobacter pylori (in peptic ulcer disease) can be tested for with the urea breath test.
  • Exhaled nitric oxide is a breath test that might signal airway inflammation such as in asthma.
  • Breath Tests for Diseases have been developed by companies like Menssana Research, Inc. for early detection of Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Pulmonary TB and many others, to serve as an adjunct to existing medical tests. Phase II and Phase III clinical studies are under way to confirm the efficacy of these breath tests.

Famous quotes containing the words breath and/or test:

    “It is getting dark and time he drew to a house,
    But the blizzard blinds him to any house ahead.
    The storm gets down his neck in any icy souse
    That sucks his breath like a wicked cat in bed.”
    —Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    “Tried by a New England eye, or the more practical wisdom of modern times, they are the oracles of a race already in its dotage; but held up to the sky, which is the only impartial and incorruptible ordeal, they are of a piece with its depth and serenity, and I am assured that they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)