A smear method for measuring anti-cancer drugs residues in hospitals

Objectives: Anti-cancer drugs are harmful to healthy persons. In recent years, occupational exposure to anti-cancer drugs has become a major concern to health care workers. To address this issue, a smear method was developed to measure widely using anti-cancer drugs depositing on the floors, safety cabinet surfaces, and tables in hospital. Methods: Ten kinds of widely used anti-cancer drugs, paclitaxel, vincristine, docetaxel, vinorelbine, irinotecan, methotrexate, oxaliplatin, cyclophosphamide, gemcitabine and fluorouracil were collected by smearing material surfaces with methanol impregnated cellulose filter paper and/or polypropylene nonwoven. The collected anti-cancer drugs are extracted in 5 ml of 0.01% (v/v) hydrazine/methanol solution by sonication. The extracted solution was filtered and concentrated to prepare 1ml of sample solution. Then, the anti-cancer drugs in the sample solution were simultaneously measured by LC/MS. Results: The anti-cancer drugs excepting fluorouracil spread on P-tile surface were measured with recoveries of 37–101% and standard deviations (SD) of 1.8–19%. All 10 of the anti-cancer drugs on a stainless steel plate surface were measured with the recoveries of 35–111% and SD of 1.3–11%. Conclusions: Using this smear method, 9 or 10 kinds of widely used anti-cancer drug residues in hospital, possibly exposed to health care workers, were grasped.