Exhaled Breath Profile at altitude

The proposed study will assess the ability to discriminate between breathprints of healthy controls and subjects diagnosed with AMS, HACE or HAPE. We further will explore the usefulness of VAS for AMS by completing subject self assessment by expert physician AMS scoring.



Subjects visiting the Capanna Regina Margherita (Italy) are recruited. These subjects are from different nationalities (for example Italian, French, Swiss, Austrian, German, Dutch, English, Spanish)

There is no reliable biological marker for the diagnosis of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), so AMS is presently assessed with questionnaires: the Lake Louise self-report score (LLSRS) and the abbreviated Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire (ESQc). Recently Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) have been introduced to quantify AMS symptom intensity.
In the present study, we propose measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled air to provide a non-invasive and objective test for diagnosing AMS, High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). VOCs can be measured with electronic nose (eNose) technology, which forms a breathprint of the different VOCs. The proposed study will assess the ability to discriminate between breathprints of healthy controls and subjects diagnosed with AMS, HACE or HAPE. We further will explore the usefulness of VAS for AMS by completing subject self assessment by expert physician AMS scoring.

All tests will be performed on a single occasion on each subject participating in the study.

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