Guiding improvements to the design of materials for wipe sampling of anti-neoplastic drugs through a statistical analysis of published literature

Risk assessment of contaminations containing anti-neoplastic drugs plays a crucial role in protecting healthcare workers. To assess the risk, wipe sampling the surface is the most common technique. The wipe sampling efficiency is poor for sampling spills with the mixture of drugs. A diverse range of wipes and solvents was applied to improve sampling efficiency. However, there is low accuracy and high variability in wipe efficiency. A modelling framework including principal component analysis coupled with beta regression was developed. This framework was applied to a comprehensive customized database collected from the published wipe sampling procedures and expanded by adding the chemical properties of the wiping materials, such as molecular mass. The marginal effects results established the influence of each chemical property (descriptor) on wipe sampling efficiency. Engineered solvents are the key, for example tuning the solvents' ratio in a promising solvent system such as Water/MeOH/ACN (65:25:10) V:V. These challenges also indicate the potential utility of using two solvent systems for wipe sampling. The two-step process could be implemented as a soaking solvent and a wiping solvent.