Post-Exposure Analysis of Organic Compounds in the Blood by a Rapid Infra-Red Technique

Abstract

THERE has long been a need for a rapid standard method for the determination of levels of circulating organic compounds foreign to the blood stream. The inability to measure efficiently the blood and urine levels of compounds handled in industrial processes has hindered toxicological research and made adequate control of the working environment more difficult. The physician when establishing a diagnosis of an acute or chronic poisoning from an industrial chemical has had no ready procedure by which to identify the specific compound or to determine its concentration in the blood stream. The infra-red method to be presented satisfies the above implied criteria for an efficient analytical procedure: simplicity, rapidity, sensitivity, and availability.