Biernacki W A, Kharitonov S A, Barnes P J
The Surgery, Gravesend, Kent, UK.
Respir Med. 2001 Dec;95(12):1003-5. doi: 10.1053/rmed.2001.1196.
The concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) in exhaled air is increased in patients with asthma, bronchiectasis and upper respiratory tract viral infections. However there is no information about the level of CO in patients with lower respiratory tract infection. We studied a group of 35 patients (22 males) aged 45 +/- 3 (SEM) years with cough productive of purulent phlegm and pyrexia in a general practice setting. All were non-smokers or ex-smokers and none had a previous history of respiratory problems or diabetes. We measured CO level in exhaled air before and after a course of antibiotics. Therapy was deemed successful when patient no longer complained of cough productive of purulent phlegm. Twenty-eight of 35 patients had elevated CO level at their initial visit. Twenty-two out of 35 patients reported clinical improvement after antibiotic treatment and this was associated with a fall in exhaled CO level from 5.2 +/- 0.5 ppm to 2.3 +/- 0.3 ppm (P < 0.0001). We suggest that simple CO measurements in exhaled air can detect the inflammatory process within the airways caused by infection and that a repeat measurement can be used to assess the nature of inflammation.
哮喘、支气管扩张和上呼吸道病毒感染患者呼出气体中一氧化碳（CO）的浓度会升高。然而，关于下呼吸道感染患者的CO水平尚无相关信息。我们在一个普通诊所环境中研究了一组35名患者（22名男性），他们年龄为45±3（标准误）岁，有脓性痰咳嗽和发热症状。所有患者均为非吸烟者或已戒烟者，且既往均无呼吸系统问题或糖尿病史。我们在一个疗程的抗生素治疗前后测量了呼出气体中的CO水平。当患者不再主诉有脓性痰咳嗽时，治疗被认为是成功的。35名患者中有28名在初次就诊时CO水平升高。35名患者中有22名在抗生素治疗后报告临床症状改善，这与呼出CO水平从5.2±0.5 ppm降至2.3±0.3 ppm相关（P<0.0001）。我们建议，简单地测量呼出气体中的CO可以检测出由感染引起的气道内炎症过程，并且重复测量可用于评估炎症的性质。
