Cytogenetic monitoring of pharmaceutical staff working with cytostatic drug preparations: A 5-year follow-up

Introduction. Cytostatic drug preparation in hos pital pharmacies leads to a concentration of expo sure on a few people and requires considerable protective measures.

Methods. To prove the efficiency of those standards, 45 people who routinely prepare cyto static drugs were monitored with cytogenetic tests, Micronucleus-rate (MN), and Sister Chroma tid Exchange-rate (SCE), once a year over a period up to 5 years. All participants of the study received a physical examination before they began prepar ing cytostatic drugs. Baseline MN and SCE were performed at the time. Individual comparisons for the tests between pre- and post-exposure, and a comparison between an exposed and an unex posed group were then performed.

Results. During the 5-year follow-up there were no hints of genotoxic effects as a result of handling cytostatic drugs.

Conclusion. Thus, it appeared that the safety precautions employed at this Institute were ade quate.