Quantification of Breath Metabolites in Labouring Versus Nonlabouring Patients: A Feasibility Study

( Br J Anaesth . 2025;135:1373-1375. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.07.081) Breath analysis is an emerging area of clinical research, offering advantages such as real-time results, noninvasive sample collection, and greater testing potential than blood or tissue assessments. This approach is particularly appealing in obstetric anesthesia, where most patients are awake and invasive monitoring can be difficult. Because oxidative stress increases during labor and may contribute to complications, the investigators sought to determine whether breath sampling to measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) linked to oxidative stress is feasible in pregnant and laboring patients. Using selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS), they examined whether VOC profiles differed between healthy nonpregnant individuals and healthy term pregnant patients, and whether breath metabolites changed across different stages of labor.