Evaluation of the effect of the concentration of plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on the quantity of residual monomer vinyl chloride in PVC chest drainage tubes.

The effect of amount of plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) amount on the amount of residual monomer vinyl chloride (VC) was determined in samples of plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with different concentration of plasticiser (22.32-33.05%), before and after sterilisation by a titrimetric method. The titrimetric method was used to determine the VC concentration in a KMnO4 solution where the samples were kept immersed under the same conditions for 2 h. The influence of PVC film extracts with different amounts of DEHP on mouse fibroblast cells L-929 in a culture medium was evaluated by using quantitative tests: the amount of cells (protein determination), viability (MTT test) and proliferation (incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine (BrDU). The amount of vinyl chloride before and after heat sterilisation at 120 degrees C for 30 min was found to be almost the same for all samples and without any dependence on the concentration of DEHP. The extracts of the PVC films which were tested have no toxic effect on cells in a culture medium.