Bladder catheters and zinc contamination of urine.

888 CLINICALCHEMISTRY, Vol. 35, No. 5, 1989 Technical Briefs (-300 words text) summarize findings that are of interest to a relatively limited audience. Readers desiring fuller details may obtain them by writing directly to the author(s) at the address given. with normal zinc concentrations in urine ± 3.5 niol/L (6)], addition of 1.24 pmol of zinc per literfrom the catheter would cause an error of12-35%. It is notable that 40% ofthe zinc was released from the catheterwithin the first hour. The Silkomed catheter contained relatively little zinc (1.4 ± 0.3 mol/g) and releases were so small (0.03 ± 0.01 iiniol/8 h) that this influence on urinaryzinc would remain unnoticed. We thereforeconsideritsuitable forstudies on zinc excretion.