Rapid identification of pesticides in human oral fluid for emergency management by thermal desorption electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry

Abstract

The World Health Organization acknowledges that pesticide self-poisoning is among the most frequently used methods of suicide worldwide. It is therefore of the highest importance to promptly identify the type of pesticides ingested by self-poisoning patients because different pesticides cause intoxication through different mechanisms, requiring different therapeutic strategies, precautions against contraindicating actions, directions of clinical course monitoring and predictions of prognosis. In this perspective Special Feature, Pr. Bai-Hsiun Chen (Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan) and colleagues propose a point-of-care analytical method for rapid identification of five residual pesticides in oral fluid using thermal desorption-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (TD-ESI/MS). This non-invasive approach can expedite emergency care and may provide important toxicological information for decision-making during critical resuscitation.