Permeability of nitrile rubber, latex, polyurethane, and neoprene gloves to 18 antineoplastic drugs

The permeability of four glove materials to various antineoplastic drugs wa s studied. Eighteen antineoplastic drugs posing potential health hazards to handlers w ere prepared at the highest concentrations normally encountered by hospital personnel. Four glove materials-nitrile rubber, latex, polyurethane, and n eoprene-were exposed to the drugs for 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Glove th ickness was measured with an electronic digital caliper. Random samples of material were selected from the glove fingertips, and triplicate samples we re tested for each drug at each interval. For a majority of the drugs, a ba cterial mutagenicity assay was used to measure the amount of drug (if any) that permeated the material. High-performance liquid chromatography was use d for drugs not tested with the bacterial assay. The nitrile gloves were the thinnest (0.12 mm), and the latex gloves were t he thickest (0.18 mm). The four materials were generally impermeable to eac h drug. One sample of the nitrile gloves appeared to have a defect, allowin g >5% of the drug solution to pass through at 30 minutes. One sample each o f the latex, polyurethane, and neoprene gloves demonstrated minimal permeab ility (less than or equal to 1%): One latex glove sample was permeated by c armustine, and paclitaxel permeated one sample each of the polyurethane and neoprene materials. Nitrile rubber, latex, polyurethane, and neoprene gloves were impermeable t o 18 antineoplastic drugs in most, but not all, cases.