Breath test detects opioids

https://physicsworld.com/a/breath-test-detects-opioids/

A test to detect opioid drugs in exhaled breath has been developed by engineers and physicians at the University of California, Davis. Such a breath test could be useful in caring for chronic pain patients, as well as for checking for illegal drug use (J. Breath Res. 10.1088/1752-7163/ab35fd).

“There are a few ways we think this could impact society,” says Cristina Davis, who led the research along with Michael Schivo from the UC Davis Medical Center.

Patients suffering chronic pain are commonly prescribed opioids and other analgesic drugs. Monitoring opioids and their metabolites in such patients is important to ensure that they are taking their drugs correctly, the prescribed drugs are being metabolized properly and that they are not taking any confounding medication. Blood testing is the gold standard for this, but it is invasive and requires specialized personnel to collect. Breath testing could provide a reliable, easily available and non-invasive alternative.

In this study, the researchers used a simple and non-invasive technique to collect exhaled breath condensate (EBC) from a small group of chronic pain patients at the UC Davis Medical Center. The patients received infusions of pain medication including morphine and hydromorphone, or oral doses of oxycodone.

The patients were asked to breathe normally for 15 min into a specialized collection device: a glass tube surrounded by dry ice. The droplets in breath condense and are stored in a freezer until testing. The researchers also washed the collection device with an ethanol solvent after EBC extraction to retrieve any compounds stuck to the glass surface. They analysed all of the samples using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to identify metabolites present in the sample and  quantify the drugs being used.

After each EBC collection, blood samples were taken immediately, enabling the researchers to compare opioids and metabolites in breath with levels in blood samples and with the delivered doses. “We can see both the original drug and metabolites in exhaled breath,” Davis explains.

In this pilot study, the researchers were able to detect, quantify and identify several opioid metabolites in EBC and the subsequent ethanol solvent wash. This confirms that infused opioid drugs are present in exhaled breath, albeit in low amounts. They also found promising correlations between concentrations in blood and breath for some of the main opioids and their metabolites.

Davis notes that fully validating this breath test will require more data from larger groups of patients. Her team is now working towards real-time, bedside testing.

Right now this “breath test” is too cumbersome and takes too long ( 15 minutes ) … but… as with everything else… it becomes miniaturized and “shorter test time”… can you see cops with every traffic stop that drivers are subjected to performing this test…  To confirm the cop’s suspicion of “driving under the influence “… will any trace of opiates in such breath test start resulting in all sorts of arrests and charges against anyone legally taking a controlled substance.

Could law enforcement do data mining in the state’s PMP and start using license plate readers to target people who are legally taking opiates. Just think of all the fines imposed and collected and all the assets and cash that could be confiscated using civil asset forfeiture laws. 

Filed under: General Problems