Evaluation of a New Portable Gas Chromatograph With an Automatic Sampling for VSCs Measurements

Objectives: A portable gas chromatograph named Twin Breasor II^TM (iSenLab, Korea) has been introduced to measure VSCs in oral gas and breath recently. The standalone analyzer features an automatic sampling of target gas, a semiconductor gas sensor as detector, no need for special carrier gas and full automatic procedures of measurement. This study aimed to performance evaluation of Twin Breasor II^TM (TB II) for VSCs measurements.
Methods: The authors used a permeator to generate fresh H₂S and CH₃SH gases at each assigned concentrations. TB II measured five different concentrations of mixed H₂S and CH₃SH per day. The tests were repeated ten times for 15 days. Chromatograms of TB II were recorded via personal computer and analyzed to examine each peaks. Oral gases also have been measured and compared by TB II and a gas chromatograph with a flame photometric detector (GC-FPD).
Results: The full automatic procedure facilitated objective and reliable measurement without mistakes in manipulation. Chromatograms proved each retention time was very reproducible and both peaks of H₂S and CH₃SH were separated well. The measurement time was as fast as 2 min 30 seconds. Measurements of standard VSCs indicated Adj. R² = 0.9948 for H₂S and 0.9872 for CH₃SH (n=50), respectively. VSCs measurement from various oral gases and breaths by TB II coincided with results of GC-FPD, showing that TB II can determine VSCs in oral gases selectively and accurately.
Conclusions: TB II is characterized as full automatic sampling and measurement, fast measurement time. The analyzer enables convenient and hygienic measurement with an accurate sampling. Repeated VSCs measurements indicate that TB II performance is very stable and reliable. Comparison of TB II with GC-FPD suggests that TB II is suitable to diagnose VSCs in oral malodor and breath.