Exhaled Breath Condensate: Technical and Diagnostic Aspects

Figure 1

EcoScreen 2 device for exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection (FILT Lungen-& Thorax Diagnostik GmbH). EcoScreen 2 electrically refrigerates exhaled air, conducted through a lamellar PFTE coated aluminum double lumen system. EBC is formatted in a disposable polyethylene bag (at approximately −10°C). It also allows the fractionated collection of EBC from different areas of the bronchial tree into two disposable polyethylene bags, so that the dead space condensate which contains biomarkers of no clinical relevance can be discarded. The device is not portable and weighs 20 kg (published with permission from FILT Lungen-& Thorax Diagnostik GmbH).