Sampling Accessories: Bio-VOC™ breath sampler
Non-invasive biological monitoring
Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) are used extensively in industry and primary routes of exposure for humans include skin absorption and ingestion as well as inhalation. Biological monitoring, i.e. measuring the body burden of VOCs, is a way of assessing total exposure by all routes.
Conventional biological monitoring involves sampling blood or urine. However, these methods are invasive, unpopular and require medically trained staff.
Breath sampling
Based on pioneering work carried out at the UK Health and Safety Laboratory, the Bio-VOC sampler provides, for the first time, a non-invasive and low-cost solution to large scale biological monitoring. The sampler collects a representative sample of end-tidal air, without contamination or dilution with breath from the bronchial tubes or mouth, and subsequently transfers it to a sorbent tube (or direct read-out instrument), for thermal desorption and analysis.
Occupational hygiene
The simple and affordable Bio-VOC sampler is ideal for occupational hygiene testing. It facilitates large scale monitoring of the actual body burden of chemicals – the ultimate exposure test for workers in high risk industries such as paint, petrochemicals and dry cleaning.
Interpretation of results is achieved by a number of means: some solvents (e.g. tetrachloroethene) have been given American or German guidance values. Others can be interpreted from volunteer studies or literature reviews. UK HSL guidance notes are available for several common solvents.
The Bio-VOC also provides a unique check on the efficacy of respiratory protective apparatus and protective clothing at work.
Wider applications - clinical diagnosis
The Bio-VOC has also been used for research into the clinical diagnostic potential of breath. It is widely hypothesised that the presence of specific chemicals or specific combinations of chemicals in the breath may provide a reliable diagnosis of certain disabling diseases – among them psychiatric conditions, various cancers and metabolic failure in premature infants.
Laboratory and clinical research in this area has been hampered, until now, by the lack of a reliable and simple method of sampling the alveolar portion of breath from patients and control groups. Indications are that the Bio-VOC Sampler will play a crucial role in this vital research and could ultimately prove to be the ideal tool for cost-effective screening of those at risk.
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