Objective: To build up, validate, and apply a method for the determination of platinum contamination, originating from cisplatinum, oxaliplatinum, and carboplatinum. hoods, the floor in front of the LAF hoods, door deals INCA-6 supplier with, and deals with of support hatches showed positive results. This demonstrates that contamination is spread throughout the preparation rooms. Conclusion: We developed and validated an ultra sensitive and reliable ICP-MS method for the determination of platinum in surface samples. Surface contamination with platinum was observed in all hospital pharmacies sampled. The interpretation of these results is usually, however, complicated. Keywords: ICP-MS, Platinum, Validation, Hospital pharmacies, Surface contamination Introduction Cytotoxic drugs are widely used for the treatment of malignancy. Occupational exposure to these drugs has been recognised as a potential health hazard INCA-6 supplier since 1970s (Donner 1978; Falck et al. 1979). Because cytotoxic drugs can affect the DNA, RNA, or protein synthesis, many of these drugs are classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic to humans (International Agency for Research on Malignancy (IARC) 1997). Skin contact with cytotoxic drugs, due to contamination of the ongoing work area or contamination of packaging materials, seems to enjoy an important function in the uptake of the medications by medical center workers (Fransman et al. 2004; Sessink et al. 1994). As a result, tight safety and health guidelines have already been established and requested the handling of the agencies. Evidently, the health threats for people manipulating cytotoxic medications, such as for example pharmacists, pharmacy experts, nurses, and cleansers, however, are INCA-6 supplier a concern still. This concern is certainly consolidated by several recent magazines demonstrating workplace contaminants (Crauste-Manciet et al. 2005; Hedmer et al. 2005; Leboucher et al. 2002; Mason et al. 2005; Schmaus et al. 2002; Zeedijk et al. 2005; Ziegler et al. 2002) and contaminants of product packaging of cytotoxic medications (Connor et al. 2005; Hedmer et al. 2005; Mason et al. 2003; Nygren et al. 2002). Furthermore, recognition of cytotoxic agencies in urine (Ensslin et al. 1994a, b, 1997; Minoia et al. 1998; Pethran et al. 2003; Schreiber et al. 2003; Sessink et al. 1994; Turci et al. 2002) and bloodstream (Nygren and Lundgren 1997) of workers who were involved with planning or administration continues to be reported with raising frequency. The partnership between prolonged contact with small levels of cytotoxic medications INCA-6 supplier and harmful results is difficult to determine. Predicated on current technological knowledge, it really is difficult to INCA-6 supplier create KLF5 a known degree of publicity that, beyond doubt, will not cause adverse effects. Because no regulations around the maximal acceptable amount of contamination for these drugs have been set so far, hospitals should aim for the lowest contamination as is reasonably achievable. Monitoring of contamination, therefore, is essential. This can aid in the identification of the main exposure routes and in assessing the effectiveness of cleaning and working procedures. Evaluation of environmental contamination will, moreover, lead to an increase of the consciousness among personnel, concerning the handling of the chemotherapeutic brokers. This can lead to an improvement of and the compliance to working and cleaning procedures. Wipe sampling is usually a common method to monitor surfaces for the presence of cytotoxic drugs. Hence, sensitive and validated methods are indispensable to be able to detect the relatively low quantities of drug present on surfaces. Platinum coordination complexes, such as cisplatinum, oxaliplatinum, and carboplatinum play a major role in the treatment of a variety of tumours. As a result, large amounts of these brokers are processed in hospital pharmacies. Several wipe sample methods for platinum made up of drugs have been used in earlier studies and platinum was detected as a surface contaminant in many of the workplaces (Leboucher et al. 2002; Mason et al. 2005; Schmaus et al. 2002; Ziegler et al. 2002) or drug vials (Connor et al. 2005; Nygren et al. 2002) investigated. A description of the validation of the analytical methods, however, continues to be scarce. Validation outcomes were talked about briefly for the technique of Ziegler et al. (2002), using electro thermal vaporisation combined to inductively combined plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Raghavan et al. (2000) defined the validation of the high-performance water chromatography way for.