Antineoplastic Drug Contamination on the Outside of Prepared Infusion Bags

Eight Dutch hospital pharmacies took wipe samples of prepared infusion bags containing 5 fluorouracil just before distribution to the wards. The samples were tested with high-performance liquid chromatography and triple quadrupole mass spectroscopy. The limit of detection was 10 ng per swipe. None of the 146 samples had a detectable amount of 5-fluorouracil. The outside of infusion bags containing antineoplastic drugs prepared in these eight Dutch hospital pharmacies were not contaminated and, therefore, were not a risk factor with regard to exposure of hospital workers to antineoplastic drugs.