Measurement of dioxins in human blood: improvement of analytical method.

We have improved the method of measuring dioxins in the blood of Yusho patients; with this improved method, it is possible to take measurements quickly and precisely, using as little as 5g of blood. The specific points of improvement of this method are the extraction of lipids from blood by accelerated solvent extractor (ASE), the miniaturization of column cleanup for the purification of dioxins, and the use of a solvent cut large volume (SCLV) injection system with high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). Using this improved method of analysis, we are currently investigating dioxins in the blood of 400 Yusho patients collected in Japan in 2002. We here describe the details of our announcement at Dioxin 2002 Symposium about the improvement of this analysis method, and discuss several other modifications.