PTR-MS in the Medical Sciences

Non-invasive PTR-MS sampling for medical applications has been used for headspace analysis above urine [1] and fluids obtained from the gut during colonoscopy [2], the in vitro discrimination of cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines [3] and for studies of emissions from the skin [4-6]. PTR-MS has also been used for investigations involving occupational health exposure in various medical environments [7-10]. Other medical-related work has 

Proton Tranrfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry Principles and Applications, First Editioi. Andrew M. F.llis and Christcphea A. Mayhew. 2014 Andrew M. Ellis and Christof ier A. Mayhew. Published 2014 by John Wil Sons, Ltd. 

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The use of PTR-MS in medical science is not just restricted to breath analysis and online in vitro measurements of microbial cultures. PTR-MS has considerable potential for application in other medical areas, such as the analysis of the headspace above liquid and solid biological samples (e.g. urine, faeces or sputum samples) or detecting emissions from skin (a potential application being the early detection of skin cancers), but surprisingly there have been only a limited number of such studies at the time of writing. Furthermore, with the development of direct aqueous injection inlet systems (see Section 9.2), PTR-MS is not just limited to headspace analysis but now also has the potential to analyse liquid samples directly. 

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