Rapid detection of non-volatile household pesticides in drained gastric juice by ambient mass spectrometry for emergency management

In order to provide timely emergency management for the patients accidently or intentionally ingested of household pesticides, it is crucial to develop a point-of-care analytical technique for early ex vivo identification of swallowed pesticides. In this study, probe sampling combined with electrospray laser desorption ionization/mass spectrometry (ELDI/MS) was performed to rapidly detect spiked non-volatile household pesticides in the gastric juice drained from the patients during lavage. Since no sample pretreatment is required, probe sampling is fast, and high thermal energy for analyte desorption is provided; ELDI/MS detects the household pesticides in gastric juice within 30 s. The detection limits of the household pesticides were found to be 0.05-1 mg/L, this makes ELDI/MS combined with probe sampling a novel and efficient analytical tool for providing important toxicological information to ensure an appropriate emergency medical response. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.