HANDHELD MONITOR FOR ETHYLENE OXIDE IN HOSPITALS

环氧乙烷（EtO）是用于对医疗设备进行灭菌的有用试剂 因为它不涉及热量并且对大多数材料没有腐蚀性。 许多 然而，医疗机构不能使用环氧乙烷，因为它的毒性和 因为很难对其进行监控。目前的方法（红外线， 色谱法，k和光电离）都不足以用于不同的 原因 我们建议采用一种经过验证的技术， 结合电化学检测，以识别和测量1 到百万分之一千，也将表明存在 干扰 类似的技术可以适用于测量 一氧化二氮和其他麻醉气体。

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a useful agent for sterilizing medical equipment because it involves no heat and is not corrosive to most materials. Many medical facilities, however, cannot use EtO because of its toxicity and because of the difficulty of monitoring it. Present methods (infrared, chromatography,k and photoionization) are all inadequate for different reasons. We propose to adapt a proven technique, controlled pyrolysis combined with electrochemical detection, to identify and measure EtO at 1 to 1000 parts per million and will also indicate the presence of interferences. Similar technology may be adapted to the measurement of nitrous oxide and other anaesthesia gases.