The influence of active and passive air humidification on exhaled breath condensate volume

Is it feasible to collect exhaled breath condensate in COVID-19 patients undergoing noninvasive ventilatory support?

The article recently published by Hjembaek-Brandtet al. [1] focused on humidification during the collection of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Indeed, in the current guidelines, it is still unclear which standard humidification setting and technique should be used [2, 3]. In some studies, the EBC has been performed with active humidification [4], while others have removed it before collection [5]. Hjembaek-Brandtet al. [1] demonstrated that diverse settings of active humidification may vary the amount of sample collected quite remarkably. The authors concluded that the EBC collection should be performed with no humidification, turning off the humidifier 10 min before starting the exam [1].

In patients with #COVID19-related acute hypoxic respiratory failure requiring noninvasive ventilatory support, EBC collection with adequate precautions may be feasible and future studies will be needed to explore this research fieldhttps://bit.ly/39OxufF