title: Measurement of ethanol in gaseous breath using a miniature gas chromatograph.
abstract: We designed and built a novel, miniature gas chromatograph (mGC) to use exhaled breath to estimate blood ethanol concentrations that may offer GC quality sensitivity and specificity, but with portability, reduced size, and decreased cost. We hypothesized that the mGC would accurately estimate the serum ethanol concentration using exhaled breath. Human subjects (n = 8) were dosed with ethanol employing the Widmark criteria, targeting a blood concentration of 0.08 g/dL. Serum and breath samples were collected concurrently over an hour. Ethanol concentrations in serum were measured using a CLIA-approved laboratory. Ethanol concentrations in conventional breath were assayed using a calibrated mGC or Intoxilyzer 400PA. Data were analyzed using Bland-Altman analysis using serum concentrations as a "gold standard". For the mGC, the regression line (correlation coefficient), bias, and 95% limits of agreement were y = 1.013x - 0.009 (r = 0.91), -0.008 g/dL, and -0.031 to 0.016 g/dL, respectively, for 30 specimens. For the Intoxilyzer 400PA, the regression line (correlation coefficient), bias, and 95% limits of agreement were y = 0.599x + 0.008 (r = 0.86), -0.024 g/dL, and -0.049 to 0.002 g/dL, respectively, for 71 specimens with a large magnitude effect. We concluded that the mGC, using exhaled breath, performed well to estimate the serum ethanol concentrations.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: Timothy E
authors: TE
authors: Morey
authors: Matthew M
authors: MM
authors: Booth
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: Prather
authors: Sara J
authors: SJ
authors: Nixon
authors: Jeff
authors: J
authors: Boissoneault
authors: Richard J
authors: RJ
authors: Melker
authors: Bruce A
authors: BA
authors: Goldberger
authors: Hank
authors: H
authors: Wohltjen
authors: Donn M
authors: DM
authors: Dennis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001944:Breath Tests / Q000295:instrumentation; D002138:Calibration; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol