title banner

OR in the News

OR in the News (selected articles)

Teucke T, Maurer F, Muller-Wirtz LM, Volk T, Sessler DI, Kreuer S: Humidity and measurement of volatile propofol using MCC-IMS (EDMON). J Clin Monit Comput 2023; 37: 493-500

December 18, 2023

Abstract
The bedside Exhaled Drug MONitor – EDMON measures exhaled propofol in ppbv every minute based on multi-capillary column – ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS). The MCC pre-separates gas samples, thereby reducing the influence of the high humidity in human breath. However, preliminary analyses identified substantial measurement deviations between dry and humid calibration standards. We therefore performed an analytical validation of the EDMON to evaluate the influence of humidity on measurement performance. A calibration gas generator was used to generate gaseous propofol standards measured by an EDMON device to assess linearity, precision, carry-over, resolution, and the influence of differ- ent levels of humidity at 100% and 1.7% (without additional) relative humidity (reference temperature: 37°C). EDMON measurements were roughly half the actual concentration without additional humidity and roughly halved again at 100% relative humidity. Standard concentrations and EDMON values correlated linearly at 100% relative humidity (R²=0.97). The measured values were stable over 100min with a variance ≤ 10% in over 96% of the measurements. Carry-over effects were low with 5% at 100% relative humidity after 5min of equilibration. EDMON measurement resolution at 100% relative humidity was 0.4 and 0.6 ppbv for standard concentrations of 3 ppbv and 41 ppbv. The influence of humidity on measurement performance was best described by a second-order polynomial function (R²≥0.99) with influence reaching a maximum at about 70% relative humidity. We conclude that EDMON measurements are strongly influenced by humidity and should therefore be corrected for sample humidity to obtain accurate estimates of exhaled propofol concentrations.
Keywords
Anaesthesia · Exhaled propofol · Ion mobility spectrometry · MCC-IMS · EDMON · Drug monitoring.