Urinary excretion of mutagens and cisplatin among the nursing staff at a medical oncology department exposed to cytostatic drugs

Exposure to cytostatic drugs was assessed in a group of 9 nurses employed in a hospital cancer therapy department by measuring the post-shift levels of urinary mutagens and cis-platinum. A slight but significant increase in urinary mutagenic activity compared to 11 controls was observed in the non-s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMedicina del lavoro Vol. 80; no. 5; p. 412
Main Authors Clonfero, E, Granella, M, Gori, G P, Venier, P, Levis, A G, Morandi, P, Bartolucci, G B, Saia, B
Format Journal Article
LanguageItalian
Published Italy 01.09.1989
Subjects
Antineoplastic Agents - urine
Cancer Care Facilities
Cisplatin - urine
Cyclophosphamide - urine
Environmental Exposure
Humans
Mutagenicity Tests
Nursing Staff
Smoking - metabolism
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Exposure to cytostatic drugs was assessed in a group of 9 nurses employed in a hospital cancer therapy department by measuring the post-shift levels of urinary mutagens and cis-platinum. A slight but significant increase in urinary mutagenic activity compared to 11 controls was observed in the non-smokers: the mean values of mutagenic activity on the Ta100 strain in the presence of both microsomal and deconjugating enzymes were 4418 +/- 1186 and 2468 +/- 1681 respectively. Conversely, the urinary platinum concentration was below the detection limit of the analytical method (10 micrograms/l) in all samples. The increased urinary mutagenic activity in the exposed group can probably be attributed to the absorption of cyclophosphamide either during preparation and administration of the drug, or due to accidental contact with contaminated biological fluids, in view of the fact that the level of mutagens in urine samples from cyclophosphamide-treated patients is extremely high (up to 319,478 revertants/g creatinine in the case we examined).
ISSN:0025-7818