Development and validation of a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry quantification method for 14 cytotoxic drugs in environmental samples

Rationale Cytotoxic drug preparation in hospital pharmacies is associated with chronic occupational exposure leading to a risk of adverse effects. The objective was to develop and validate a quantification method for the following cytotoxic drugs in environmental wipe samples: cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, cytarabine, dacarbazine, docetaxel, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, epirubicin, etoposide, 5‐fluorouracil, gemcitabine, irinotecan, methotrexate and pemetrexed. Methods The quantification method was developed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry and a wiping technique using viscose swabs. Linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of quantification, specificity and stability were assessed, from swab desorbed solution, to validate the analytical method, with respect to ICH guidelines. Environmental samples were collected by wiping five work surfaces of 225 cm2 with viscose swabs, during three days. Results The quantification method was linear over the calibration range with a lower limit of quantification ranging from 0.5 to 5.0 ng mL−1 depending on the cytotoxic drug. The intra‐day and inter‐day relative biases were below 1.5% and 13.5%, respectively. This method was successfully applied to surface‐wipe sampling and environmental contaminations ranged from 0.7 to 1840.0 ng cm−2 for the most contaminated areas. Conclusions This quantification method for 14 cytotoxic drugs was successfully applied to environmental contamination monitoring and could therefore be a useful tool for monitoring and toxicological studies.