Gas Chromatographic Determination of Halothane Levels in Hospital Operating Theatres

Abstract

A simple, rapid, and sensitive method for the analysis of halothane in the air of operating theatres has been developed. The procedure involves the pre-concentration of halothane on active charcoal in an adsorption tube, then desorption in toluene, followed by capillary gas chromatography (GC) analysis using a flame ionisation detector (FID). The recovery from air samples after pre-concentration was 67%. The linearity was established with standards over a concentration range between 0 and 3 μL mL−1 of halothane in toluene with an excellent coefficient of correlation (0.99) and a limit of detection of 1 μL halothane per cubic metre of air. The time for analysis was approximately 10 min with an adsorption step of 60-90 min per sample collected on site. The procedure was used for occupational exposure assessment, by quantitation of halothane in two different hospital operating theatres, during a single general anaesthesia for a routine orthopaedic surgery and for a routine internal surgery, respectively.