Treatment of vacutainers for use in the analysis of volatile organic compounds in human blood at the low parts-per-trillion level.
Vacutainers that are routinely used for blood collection contain significant amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These VOCs interfere with the low parts-per-trillion analysis of VOCs in whole blood either by causing false positives or by masking the presence of VOCs because of high background levels. Benzene, bromoform, ethylbenzene, m/p-xylene, o-xylene, styrene, and various hydrocarbons are the most significant sources of VOC contamination present in the vacutainers. A method of removing VOCs from 10-mL gray-top vacutainers is presented. This method uses a combination of heat and vacuum to reduce the VOCs to levels compatible with low parts-per-trillion analysis of VOCs in whole blood.
Cardinali
F L
FL
Division of Environmental Health Laboratory Sciences, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA.
McCraw
J M
JM
Ashley
D L
DL
Bonin
M
M
Wooten
J
J
D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*
D006838:Hydrocarbons