Chromosome Analyses of Persons Handling Cytostatic Drugs with and without Safety Cover

During the past decade, the number of cytogenetic analyses in persons occupationally exposed to cytostatics has increased. The results from these studies are contradictory for structural chromosome aberrations (e.g. Nikula et al.1984; Stiller et al. 1983) as well as for sister chromatid exchange analyses (e.g. Waksvik et al. 1981; Benhamou et al. 1988). In our study, we compared the results of structural chromosome- and sister chromatid exchange analyses of peripheral blood lymphocytes from a group of nurses having handled cytostatic drugs without a safety cover for several years against those from 3 control groups. One control group is a group from our own laboratory. The second group is comprised of nurses who had not handled cytostatic drugs but worked under similar conditions. They are similar in age as the nurses who handled cytostatics. The third control group were employees from hospital pharmacies who handled various cytostatic drugs but exclusively under a safety cover.