Monitoring of sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes of nurse-anesthetists.

Cytogenetic methods are used increasingly for monitoring exposure to potential mutagens/carcinogens in the environment. By one such method, the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) test, comparison of different groups of hospital personnel has not indicated any mutagenic effect of occupational exposure to waste anesthetic gases. Since no information is available on repeated examinations of operating room personnel during a longer period of occupational exposure, the authors examined SCE in lymphocytes in a total number of 191 venous blood samples drawn from 14 previously unexposed nurses before and during up to 32 months of training as nurse-anesthetists. The initial SCE/cell ranged from 8.03 to 13.13 SCE/cell. Individual linear regressions were performed for the transformed variable, y = (sum SCE)1/2 + (sum SCE + 1)1/2, on time; and for the first 6-month period, the weighted mean of individual slopes was b0 = -0.119 +/- 0.088, not significantly different from zero. Calculated for the whole observation period, b0 = 0.030 +/- 0.014, P = 0.034 (two-tailed t test). Converted into SCE/cell, SCE would decrease 0.10 SCE/cell for each 6-month period of exposure (95% confidence limits 0.07-0.13 SCE/cell). The reason for this apparent decrease remains unknown. The results of the present study were in accord with previous studies of operating room personnel and of patients anesthetized with inhaled anesthetics. It was concluded that there is no indication, from the SCE test, of a mutagenic action due to exposure in vivo to currently used inhalation anesthetics.