Expired-Air Acetone in Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

SINCE Lerch suggested in 1874 that the characteristic odor in a diabetic patient's breath was acetone several methods for measuring this compound in breath have been devised.^{1 2 3 4 5} In the small series of diabetic patients studied with these methods the impression has been that the concentration of acetone in the breath is a reliable index of the degree of ketonemia and, therefore, should be of clinical usefulness. However, measurements of breath acetone have not been used clinically because the proposed analytical methods have lacked one or more of the following features essential to a "practical" laboratory test: speed and simplicity of . . .