Uncertainty of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry based measurements: an application to the analysis of urinary barium, cesium, antimony and tungsten

Abstract

The wide use of barium (Ba), cesium (Cs), antimony (Sb) and tungsten (W) in many industrial and agricultural fields causes the increased release of these metals into the environment, laying the basis for health risk. To assess the exposure for the general population, the development of adequate and reliable analytical techniques becomes compulsory. This study refers to the quantification of urinary Ba, Cs, Sb and W levels by both quadrupole (Q) and sector field (SF) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The two procedures were compared for their performances and their measurement uncertainties. The limits of detection were (Q and SF) 23.0 and 5.21 ng L(-1) for Ba; 21.1 and 7.52 ng L(-1) for Cs; 1.09 and 0.43 ng L(-1) for Sb; and 0.36 and 0.49 ng L(-1) for W. The trueness was better than 93.3% and the precision less than 12% for both techniques. Relative expanded uncertainties of the analytical procedures, at the median levels found in the general population, were below 5% for all the elements with both ICP-MS techniques. The uncertainties related to the calibration and repeatability were the parameters most influencing the final analytical performance. The urinary median values observed in healthy subjects from central Italy were 1146, 4301, 60.8 and 48.5 ng L(-1) for Ba, Cs, Sb and W, respectively.

Estimating perchlorate exposure from food and tap water based on US biomonitoring and occurrence data

“…Urinary cesium levels reflect recent exposure. Two small studies of European populations reported urinary cesium levels similar to U.S. population results shown in this Report (Alimonti et al, 2005;. Using clinically submitted specimens, Komaromy-Hiller et al (2000) found urinary cesium levels that were slightly lower than those reported for the U.S. population.…”

Cesium chloride-induced torsades de pointes

“…An analysis was performed in the trace elements laboratory at the Children's and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia in Vancouver. The technique used was previously described in detail (1). The analysis revealed that cesium appears to follow the laws of first-order elimination, two compartments being within the blood, one within erythrocytes and one within serum or The chloride salt of cesium, a group 1A element, is gaining popularity as an alternative treatment of advanced cancers.…”

Utilisation de l'ICP-MS en biologie clinique

“…Quelques domaines d'application en biologie clinique: Dans la famille des métaux alcalins, peu d'éléments trace nécessitent le recours à l'ICP-MS pour les analyses de biologie clinique. On peut citer de façon anecdotique les cas du rubidium (24) ou du césium (25) . Les autres éléments de cette famille sont plutôt investigués dans le cadre de la surveillance des expositions professionnelles ou environnementales pour le béryllium (28) ou dans un cadre médico-légal de diagnostic de noyade pour le strontium (29), sans poser de problèmes analytiques particuliers dans notre expérience.…”