City Technology develops CO MediceL ® for smoking cessation programmes

Citation

(2002), "City Technology develops CO MediceL ® for smoking cessation programmes", Sensor Review, Vol. 22 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2002.08722aaf.010

City Technology develops CO MediceL ® for smoking cessation programmes

City Technology develops CO MediceL ® for smoking cessation programmes

Keywords: Gas, Sensors

Smokers around the world who are keen to quit will benefit from a new carbon monoxide sensor that has been developed by City Technology in the UK for use in breath analysers (Plate 12).

Clinicians' use of breath monitoring in Smoking Cessation Programmes is a relatively new application, and derives from the fact that typically heavy smokers can have up to 50ppm of CO on the breath which compares with levels for non-smokers of around <5ppm.

Plate 12

CO breath monitoring has two key benefits: it is valuable in assessing genuine progress in the smoker who is "giving up", as well as improvements in their overall lung function. Smokers can see an almost immediate reduction in CO levels in expired breath when they reduce smoking, a fact that can often encourage them to keep going as they see an improvement. Monitoring CO on the breath is also becoming used as a way of "checking" children to see whether they have been smoking.

The MCO MediceL ® has a two-year life and maximum range of 200ppm CO. It offers superior performance, with a resolution of 1ppm, so making it ideal for use in the typical breath CO concentrations of smokers (10-50ppm). The MCO also contains a filter to remove alcohol that may be present on the breath so preventing cross interference and ensuring the accuracy of the result. The MCO has been designed to give a minimal response to hydrogen so removing the possibility of false readings due to the presence of hydrogen in the breath. Hydrogen can be present in the breach due to digestive disorders such as lactose intolerance.

City Technology operates stringent quality control and rigorous testing procedures within their production facility in Portsmouth, UK. City's Quality Management System is certified to ISO9001 and EN46001.

Further details of City's full range of over 200 sensors measuring 17 gases can be found on their website at www.citytech.com