Ethanol monitoring of extravascular absorption of irrigating fluid.

Ethanol monitoring is a method for the early detection of fluid absorption by the intravascular route during transurethral prostatic resection. An analysis was made to determine whether ethanol detection could also be used to quantify extravascular absorption. The concentration-time profile of ethanol in the breath was analysed in 13 men aged between 57 and 80 years with extravasation of 860 to 3600 ml of an irrigant containing glycine 1.5% and ethanol 1%. The results showed that the volume of irrigant absorbed could be predicted from the persistently elevated breath ethanol level at the end of surgery. This prediction had a median deviation of 22% from the value obtained by careful volumetric measurement.