Phenol as a breath marker for hemodialysis of chronic kidney disease patients

We aimed to identify biomarkers in breath analysis with multicapillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS) to monitor the haemodialysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients fast and non-invasive. Six patients' breath was analyzed via MCC-IMS before and after dialysis and compared to blood plasma samples analyzed via ultra performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detector for potential renal failure biomarkers. Additionally, breath from six healthy control persons was analyzed. Phenol was found as a breath marker for CKD. For three patients the phenol concentration in breath and plasma was elevated before and decreased during dialysis and reached values in the range of healthy control persons. The peak-intensity of phenol-monomer peaks of<i>P</i>01-<i>P</i>04 was reduced from an average of 16.58 (5.42-27.28) a.U. to 7.03 (0.00-13.65) a.U., which is a reduction by 42.51 (-10.55-100.00) %. The control group has an average peak-intensity of 8.50 (5.00-12.00) a.U. This study shows that the measurement of phenol via breath analysis could be used to monitor the haemodialysis for CKD-patients and might also be usable for the calculation of haemodialysis dose in the future.The study is registered in the German Clinical Trials Register under number DRKS00029679.