Problems of Forensic Sciences 2010 Vol. 82 (LXXXII) 173-183
DETERMINATION OF INHALATION ANAESTHETICS IN BLOOD BY MEANS OF GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY DETECTION USING HEADSPACE SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION (HS-SPME-GC-MS)
Marta SUCHAN, Wojciech LECHOWICZ
Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Forensic Research, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
In recent years, volatile anaesthetics have increasingly frequently been reported by police as substances which are used to induce loss of consciousness of victims in order to facilitate crime. The main purpose of the present work was to study the effectiveness of the sensitive HS-SPME-GC-MS method in determination of halogenated volatile compounds in blood. The study included three substances which are used in general volatile anaesthesia: desflurane, sevoflurane and isoflurane. Preliminary identification is based on comparison of relative retention times. Final confirmation is done by inspection of the mass spectrum, which is obtained using the HS-SPME-GC-MS method. This method is also used for quantification. The conditions of HS-SPME were optimized. The extraction was performed with a PDMS (100 μm) fibre. The HS-SPME-GC-MS method was validated. A linear calibration model was applied for the range 0.75–15.0 μg/ml. For all analytes, limits of quantification were below 1 μg/ml. Precision and accuracy were within the acceptable range for toxicological analysis (maximum relative error for sevoflurane: 15.2%; the worst precision for isoflurane, CV = 15.5%). It was also shown that blood samples have to be kept at low temperature (–20oC).
Słowa kluczowe
Anaesthetics; Volatile organic compounds (VOC); SPME-GC-MS; Blood.