Afolabi Paul R, Scorletti Eleonora, Calder Philip C, Byrne Christopher D
a National Institute for Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust , Southampton , UK.
b Human Development and Health, Faculty of Medicine , University of Southampton , Southampton , UK.
Isotopes Environ Health Stud. 2019 May;55(2):150-160. doi: 10.1080/10256016.2019.1588265. Epub 2019 Mar 18.
The C-ketoisocaproate (C-KICA) breath test (BT) has been recently proposed as a non-invasive test for assessing hepatic mitochondrial function. Results of the C-KICA BT can be expressed as different parameters. However, the best parameter for expressing the C-KICA BT result is uncertain which hinders use of the BT in routine clinical practice. We have investigated the repeatability of different parameters of C-KICA BT. Thirteen healthy adult subjects (5 men and 8 women) underwent a C-KICA BT on two occasions separated by a gap of approximately 30 days. There were no significant differences between the repeated measurements for all the test parameters over 30 days. Furthermore, the Bland Altman statistics showed no fixed or proportional bias for any of the test parameters. The cumulative C-dose enrichment over 60 min had the lowest within-subject variability of 12% compared to all other test parameters. The cumulative C-dose enrichment over 60 min could be a very useful parameter for the C-KICA BT to detect impaired hepatic mitochondrial function in patients with chronic liver diseases.
