One key issue with using a breathalyzer to estimate BAC is the protocol’s recommendation for a lag period of about 15 minutes from the end of drinking to the first breath sample to avoid contamination with alcohol in the oral mucosa. However, because peak BAC can occur within 10 minutes of drinking after gastric surgeries, BrAC cannot reliably estimate peak BAC in this clinical population (166). Studies that used arterialized venous blood samples and measured BAC using the gold-standard technique of headspace gas chromatography showed that SG was also associated with faster and higher peak BACs ((166, 244); Figure 10).
