Authors: Delphine Merger Cynthia Tanguay Éric Langlois Michel Lefebvre JeanFrançois Bussières
Publish Date: 2013/03/08
Volume: 87, Issue: 3, Pages: 307-313
Abstract
No occupational exposure limit exists for antineoplastic drugs The main objective of this study was to describe environmental contamination with cyclophosphamide ifosfamide and methotrexate in pharmacy and patient care areas of Canadian hospitals in 2012 The secondary objective was to compare the 2012 environmental monitoring results with the 2008–2010 resultsSix standardized sites in the pharmacy and six sites on patient care areas were sampled in each participating center Samples were analyzed for the presence of cyclophosphamide ifosfamide and methotrexate by UPLCMSMS The limit of detection LOD was 18 pg/cm2 for cyclophosphamide 22 pg/cm2 for ifosfamide and 80 pg/cm2 for methotrexate The comparison of surface contamination between the 2008–2010 and 2012 studies was made with the 75th percentile of cyclophosphamide concentrationA total of 33 hospitals participated in the study and 363 samples were collected Overall 40 147/363 of the samples were positive for cyclophosphamide 18 68/363 were positive for ifosfamide and 5 17/363 were positive for methotrexate In 2012 the 75th percentile value of cyclophosphamide surface concentration was of 94 pg/cm2 which is four times lower than the 2008–2010 75th percentile of 40 pg/cm2 In both studies the 75th percentile for ifosfamide and methotrexate concentration was lower than the LODSurface contamination by cyclophosphamide ifosfamide and methotrexate in Canadian hospitals is improving both in terms of the proportions of positive samples and in terms of the surface concentration of antineoplastic drugs A local 75th percentile value should be use to assess local contamination and interpret local results
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