Semiportable electrochemical instrument for determining carbon monoxide in breath

• Published in: Clinical chemistry (Baltimore, Md.) Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 1927 - 1933
• Main Authors: Vreman, HJ, Stevenson, DK, Oh, W, Fanaroff, AA, Wright, LL, Lemons, JA, Wright, E, Shankaran, S, Tyson, JE, Korones, SB
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Assoc Clin Chem 01.10.1994; American Association for Clinical Chemistry
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Breath Tests - instrumentation; Breath Tests - methods; Carbon Monoxide - analysis; Chromatography, Gas; Electrochemistry; Hemolysis; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Medical sciences; Miscellaneous. Technology; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; Regression Analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Human; Jaundice; Hyperbilirubinemia; Newborn; Carbon monoxide; Clinical biology
• ISSN: 0009-9147; 1530-8561
• DOI: 10.1093/clinchem/40.10.1927

Measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) in breath can be used for the diagnosis of hemolytic disease. A small, semiportable, easy-to-operate CO instrument was developed at Stanford University and tested at 12 Neonatal Research Network Centers of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. A syringe pump delivers 7.7 mL of sample per minute through an activate carbon filter to an electrochemical (EC) sensor having a sensitivity of 0.10 +/- 0.01 V per 1 microL/L CO in air. The electronically processed sensor signal is displayed on a digital multimeter. For a typical end-tidal CO measurement, corrected for inhaled CO, three 10- to 12-mL breath and room air samples are manually or mechanically collected and analyzed. CO determination in breath samples from 108 healthy, 1-day-old infants of nonsmoking mothers compared favorably with determinations by gas chromatography (GC), 1.3 +/- 0.8 vs 1.2 +/- 0.8 (mean +/- SD), respectively, with a regression equation of EC = 0.95 GC+0.13 (r2 = 0.98). The results demonstrate that the EC-CO instrument yields results that are comparable with those obtained by the more difficult to perform GC assay.