Cytostatics, as the active ingredients in chemotherapy are also called, are often an important component in the treatment of cancer or tumors. Unfortunately, these are also highly potent drugs that do not stop for healthy organisms and can cause lasting damage to them. It is therefore very important to ensure measures are in place to prevent health risks to people along the entire process chain.
For this purpose, both organizational and technical measures are taken. In order to be able to correctly assess the health risk and check the effectiveness of the measures taken, this risk must be determined systematically and risk based. For this purpose, the exposure determination is evaluated with the help of monitoring. Appropriate environmental monitoring with clean air measurements and wiping samples on surfaces at the suspected hot spots is the first step. In addition to environmental monitoring, biomonitoring with exposed people is recommended.
The significance and therefore the quality of environmental monitoring is only as good as the appropriate choice of sampling locations and the frequency of when and where the samples are taken for monitoring. Not only must the entire process be considered when creating the concept, but also other points that can pose a risk to people's health if they are carried over. You also must identify the exposed areas throughout the entire process from delivery of the cytostatics, storage, processing to disposal and at the same time consider where and to where they can be transported.
Even if you have introduced an excellent concept and seamless monitoring, the workplace where the cytostatics are processed must be cleaned professionally without endangering the cleaning staff. And of course, an emergency plan must be drawn up and trained that clearly regulates what to do if something goes wrong.
Cytostatics and thus chemotherapy are important and potent components in the fight against cancer. But it must be ensured through a systematic and risk-based analysis, organizational and technical measures derived from this and rigorous monitoring of compliance that no healthy people are affected by health risks in the process of processing.