Abstract
BackgroundExposure to anticancer drugs is hazardous and may lead to chromosomal abnormalities and spontaneous abortion in healthcare workers. Guidelines recommend surface decontamination and cleaning in order to minimize the occupational exposure to anticancer drugs, although no single process has been found to deactivate all currently available hazardous drugs. Ozone gas is oxidative and a decontaminant for bacteria; its characteristic as a gas has advantages in that it does not need to be wiped off or neutralized after use.MethodsThe nucleoside anticancer drugs, cytarabine and fluorouracil, were exposed to ozone gas on plates under controlled humidity. The levels of exposed ozone were evaluated using the concentration-time (CT) value, which is the mathematical product of ozone concentration and exposure time. The effects of exposure to ozone on levels of the anticancer drugs were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).ResultsThe levels of cytarabine decreased with increasing CT value and were not detected beyond 40,000 CT. The decomposition levels of the anticancer drug by ozone were CT-dependent irrespective of the maximum concentration of ozone. Higher humidity in the range from 70 to 90 % accelerated the decomposition of cytarabine and fluorouracil, and neither of the drugs were detected at 90 % humidity after exposure to ozone gas.ConclusionsOzone gas decomposed these nucleoside anticancer drugs. This is the first report of the applicability of ozone gas as a decontaminator for anticancer drugs.
Highlights
Exposure to anticancer drugs is hazardous and may lead to chromosomal abnormalities and spontaneous abortion in healthcare workers
After reaching an initially set CT value, ozone gas was inactivated with activated charcoal and the amount of anticancer drug remaining was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
To evaluate the effect of ozone gas on cytarabine, the stainless-steel plate was exposed to ozone in a chamber, in which the humidity was maintained at 90 %
Summary
Exposure to anticancer drugs is hazardous and may lead to chromosomal abnormalities and spontaneous abortion in healthcare workers. Guidelines recommend surface decontamination and cleaning in order to minimize the occupational exposure to anticancer drugs, no single process has been found to deactivate all currently available hazardous drugs. Exposure to anticancer drugs may be hazardous to healthcare workers, since many of the anticancer drugs are carcinogenic and teratogenic, and cause reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity and/or organ toxicity [1]. These toxicities result in spontaneous abortions and chromosomal abnormalities in healthcare workers. No single process has been found to deactivate all currently
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