External Contamination of Chemotherapy Vials

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alfaro RM ; Connor, Thomas H. ; DeChristoforo R ; Pretty JR
• Description:
  Recent studies have demonstrated workplace areas of most pharmacies and clinics are contaminated with chemotherapy drugs during their preparation and administration. Additionally, workers who handle these drugs often excrete them in their urine, indicating systemic exposure. External contamination of drug vials may be one source of contamination to which workers are exposed. Cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide vials were wiped two times with filter papers saturated with solvent. The combined filters were extracted using solvent and sonification and analyzed using LC/MS-MS. Several lots and dates of sampling were analyzed for cyclophosphamide (one manufacturer) and ifosfamide (two manufacturers). Forty-eight (100%) of the cyclophosphamide vials and 25 of 36 (70%) of ifosfamide vials demonstrated contamination. The values for the cyclophosphamide vials ranged from 88 - 69,800 ng/vial (median value of 1468 ng/vial). The values for ifosfamide for one manufacturer ranged from 1478 - 1750 ng/vial and for the other from the limit of detection to 13.4 ng/vial. These results, along with published reports, indicate that drug vials may have some level of contamination on their external surfaces, sometimes well into the ug range. This contamination could be an additional source of environmental contamination that leads to worker exposure to chemotherapy drugs. The study is being supplemented with additional data as new processes are being introduced in the manufacturing of cyclophosphamide. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biopharmaceutics Environmental Pollution Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Pharmacies Safety
• Keywords:
  Chemotherapy Drugs Environmental-contamination Exposure-levels Health-care-facilities Health-care-personnel Occupational-exposure Pharmaceutical-industry Pharmaceuticals Pharmacists Pharmacy-workers Workers

  More +
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027861
• Citation:
  Hospital Pharmacy and Economy. 10th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, March 16-18, 2005, Lisbon Portugal. Allonnes, France: European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, 2005 Mar; :1
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cyclophosphamide (CAS RN 50-18-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Hospital Pharmacy and Economy. 10th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:67da0f3ead61b9f6f0e781374ff4e87b684d59f3d0a8774cb9314a77c3b3b4cc44a6b1a6933ee4047b6d934191451ffac2e4c81209e56b95c4e0e48834d8d15e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/197691/cdc_197691_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 313.73 KB ]