Evaluation of Personal Exposure to Surgical Smoke Generated from Electrocautery Instruments: A Pilot Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Benson SM ; Maskrey JR ; Nembhard MD ; Panko JM ; Shirley MA ; Unice KM
• Description:
  Hospital technician surgical smoke exposures during several types of electrocautery-based procedures were evaluated. Personal and area air sampling was performed for 106 individual analytes including ultrafine particulate matter (UFP), volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenol, aldehydes, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen cyanide. Acetone, d-limonene, ethanol, ethyl acetate, and fluorene were measured in surgical suites at concentrations 1.1- to 3.7-fold higher than those observed in background. Benzene, a-pinene, methylene chloride, and n-hexane were measured in the absence of a detectable background concentration. All analytes were measured at concentrations that were <1% of the corresponding US federal and state 8-h permissible exposure limits (PELs), if PELs existed. Full-shift average UFP concentrations ranged from 773 to 2257 particles/cm3, approximately one order of magnitude higher than surgical suite background concentrations. A comparison of two breast reduction procedures suggested that the use of smoke evacuators reduced UFP exposure by 6-fold. We concluded that selection and evaluation of key hazards, particularly UFP, under a variety of experimental conditions would be beneficial to elucidate potential health effects and causes osf employee complaints. Recommendations for successful sampling campaigns in future surgical smoke occupational exposure studies are provided. We also recommend the continued use of engineering controls, local exhaust ventilation, and surgical N95 respirators to reduce personal exposures to UFP in surgical smoke. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Particulate Matter Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety Volatile Organic Compounds
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Full-shift Monitoring Industrial Hygiene N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators Particulates Personal Protective Equipment PPE Smoke Inhalation Surgery Surgical Plume Surgical Smoke Ultrafine Particulate Matter VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds

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• ISSN:
  2398-7308
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  63
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057401
• Citation:
  Ann Work Expo Health 2019 Nov; 63(9):990-1003
• Contact Point Address:
  Stacey M. Benson, Cardno ChemRisk, 20 Stanwix Street, Suite 505, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
• Email:
  Stacey.Benson@cardno.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Work Exposures and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ac2a7ac1c852323f364eb14f7fdeca917614a10e7f6eb683aa3237ca8959d40cb21aae5a97377315e4a3ca057af9064c8e2ca6b0e1f61d7d42cec5ac340784f9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214759/cdc_214759_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 442.91 KB ]