Monitoraggio biologico dell'esposizione a sevorane e protossido di azoto nelle sale operatorie = Environmental and biological monitoring in personnel exposed to sevoflurane and nitrous oxide in operating rooms

The study investigated exposure to sevoflurane and nitrous oxide in the staff of the operating rooms of a large orthopedic hospital, by environmental and biological monitoring. Seventy five subjects were investigated. Personal exposure to anesthetic gases was monitored for the entire duration of an operative session; at the end a urine spot sample was collected and urinary nitrous oxide and hexafloroisopropanol (HFIP), metabolite of sevoflurane were determined. Environmental exposure ranged from <0.5 to 6.9 ppm for nitrous oxide (81% detectable samples, none greater than 50 ppm) and from <0.1 to 0.9 ppm for sevorane (30% detectable samples, 4 higher than 0.5 ppm). The corresponding biological values were always lower than 2 μg/L for urinary nitrous oxide (no detectable sample) and from 0.02 to 1.22 mg/L for HFIP (90% detectable samples). The correlation between personal exposure to sevoflurane and HFIP was significant with Pearson’s r = 0.456. The comparison between different tasks showed higher levels of HFIP for anesthesiologists. The results showed a wide variability in the relationship between airborne measurements and urinary markers; to a personal exposure to sevoflurane of 2 ppm, a level of HFIP of 0.86 mg/L was estimated.