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.
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.
F L
FL
Cardinali
J M
JM
McCraw
D L
DL
Ashley
M
M
Bonin
J
J
Wooten
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