Analysis of sister chromatid exchange and micronuclei in peripheral blood lymphocytes of nurses handling cytostatic drugs

The genotoxic effect of occupational exposure of 20 nurses who handled cyto static drugs in medical oncology and haematology units was evaluated by mic ronucleus and sister chromatide exchange test. The duration of employment i n the units and of exposure to cytostatics ranged from 1 to 31 years. The e xposed nurses manifested an increase in cells with micronuclei as compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Nurses exposed to cytostatic drugs for 20- 31 years showed a higher frequency of micronuclei (P < 0.05), whereas there was no difference in frequencies between the control group and the group e xposed for 1-14 years (P > 0.05). The influence of the exposure period prov ed to be a significant parameter for the micronucleus test. No statisticall y significant differences were observed in sister chromatid exchange (P > 0 .05). Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.