Monitoring of volatile anesthetics in operating room personnel using GC-MS

To estimate individual occupational exposure of operating room personnel to nitrous oxide, sevoflurane, isoflurane and halothane during regular working hours. Volatile anesthetics in urine and breathing area air samples were measured in forty subjects. Passive samplers were collected after continuous five-to-seven hours of exposure. Further, thirty air samples, using passive samplers, were collected from 14 operating rooms of the Jordan University Hospital. All air and urine samples were analyzed using static headspace sampler coupled to capillary column GC-MS system. The monitored anesthetic volatile agents values of breathing area air samples were as the following [mean +/- SEM, ppm]: 43.2 +/- 6.29, 4.16 +/- 2.38, 0.19 +/- 0.05 And 0.15 +/- 0.10 for nitrous oxide, sevoflurane, isoflurane and halothane, respectively. Whereas, values of the post- shift urine samples [mean +/- SEM, micro g/1] were: 1234 +/- 209, 4.3 +/- 0.82, 3.75 +/- 0.7 and 9.9 +/- 1.2 for nitrous oxide, sevoflurane, isoflurane and halothane, respectively. Concerning operating rooms contaminations, the median and the [range] values for N[2] O were 90.4 ppm [12.2 - 327], for sevoflurane they were 16.4 ppm [2.14-53.7], for isoflurane 10.7 ppm [0.41-24.9] and for halothane 0.71 ppm [0.00 8-6.05]. Based on the results of this study, it is obvious that operating rooms personnel were exposed to high level of anesthetic agents and therefore, it is recommended to install efficient scavenging systems inside the operating rooms beside the regular maintenance of anesthetic machines. Moreover, the awareness of operating room personnel should be increased in order to minimize possible health risk. MS= Mass Spectrometry; GC= Gas liquid Chromatography; NIOSH= United States Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; JUH: Jordan University Hospital; MeOH= Methanol; ug= microgram; v/v= Volume to volume; SIM; Single Ion Monitoring; ppm- one part per million parts; TWA= Time Weighted Average: r[2]. Correlation coefficient: SEM= Standard Error of the Mean

Determinación de residuos de halothane en el ambiente de los salones de operaciones / Determination of halothane residues in the environment of the operating rooms

Con el objetivo de demostrar la presencia de contaminantes ambientales en la atmósfera quirúrgica, factor que contribuye a los riesgos profesionales de dicha área, se tomaron muestras de aire de 4 salones y 2 de ellas en la sala de posoperatorio de 1 de los hospitales, siguiendo el método de aspiración con absorbedores de vidrio. La muestra obtenida se analizó por un método espectrofotométrico. Los puntos donde hubo mayor concentración del anestésico estudiado fueron en los más cercanos a la máquina de anestesia y en la sala de posoperatorio en la cabecera del enfermo. Se observó que los niveles más elevados ocurrían cuando no había un buen funcionamiento del aire acondicionado. Las concentraciones encontradas fueron muy superiores a las descritas como aceptables, que son de 0,5 p.p.m.; además, no existía mecanismo de evacuación para los residuos anestésicos