title: Monitoring exposure of nursing and pharmacy personnel to cytotoxic drugs: urinary mutation assays and urinary platinum as markers of absorption.
abstract: In a study to determine whether hospital staff who handle cytotoxic drugs show signs of drug absorption, urinary mutagenicity assays gave positive results in a high proportion of non-exposed control subjects as well as in "exposed" hospital staff and were therefore considered unsuitable for routine monitoring. Determination of urinary platinum levels with atomic-absorption spectrophotometry of untreated urine may be a useful alternative. With this method platinum levels were below the reliable limits of detection in nurses and pharmacists who handled cytotoxic drugs (including platinum-containing drugs) and in controls. The urine of cisplatin-treated patients contained an average platinum level of 7 micrograms/ml, suggesting that contact with urine from patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy may be hazardous.
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000652:urine*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000652:urine; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital; D010984:Platinum / Q000652:urine*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010984:Platinum; D002945:Cisplatin