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Abstract
Triehloroethylene (TCE) postexposure breath decay curves were obtained from ten male and ten female volunteers who were exposed daily in a controlled-environment chamber to TCE vapor, 20, 100, or 200 ppm for one, three, or 71/2 hours. Alveolar breath samples were collected in glass pipettes for TCE analysis by gas chromatography.
The series of TCE breath decay curves obtained was highly reproducible and the narrow range of TCE in the breath at a specific time in the early postexposure period of persons identically exposed indicated that breath analysis could be used as a rapid method with which to estimate the magnitude of recent TCE exposure.
The TCE breath concentration in the immediate postexposure period accurately reflected the vapor concentration to which the subject had been most recently exposed. Breath samples collected eight to 24 hours following exposure were accurate indicators of the time-weighted average vapor exposure experienced by the subject on the previous day.