Wallace L. Guess
Mar 1, 1970
Citations
0
Influential Citations
18
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Toxicology and applied pharmacology
Abstract
Abstract 2-Chloroethanol is a potential reaction product between ethylene oxide and a free chloride ion. Certain plastic devices, such as those of the polyvinyl chloride types, contain such free chloride ions and are often sterilized by ethylene oxide. Depending on the chloride ion content and residual ethylene oxide, varying amounts of 2-chloroethanol (a chlorohydrin) may be formed as the reaction product. Since this agent is less volatile than the ethylene oxide, standard degassing procedures may leave residual 2-chloroethanol in the plastic device. If these devices come into prolonged contact with tissues, as might occur with tracheotomy tubes, the possibility exists for tissue damage from leaching 2-chloroethanol. This paper reports on the effect of pure 2-chloroethanol, and various dilutions of this material, on several of the tissue types with which a tracheotomy tube might come into contact in a patient. It was found that pure 2-chloroethanol is quite destructive to most of the tissues, including ophthalmic, mucosal, muscular, and subcutaneous tissues; however, on dilution, the toxicity potential decreased sharply. dilutions of 1:10 were still toxic, but in most cases, dilutions of 1:100 were practically innocuous. A cell culture evaluation correlated almost perfectly with in vivo techniques.