Paragon’s New Cutting – Edge Chemotherapy Equipment

Paragon invest in a brand new Chemotherapy ‘hood’ – Envair CytoFAST Elite Cytotoxic Safety Cabinet. It has been designed to guarantee product, personnel and environmental protection and it is suitable for applications such as: preparation and handling of cytotoxic drugs,preparation and manipulation of antineoplastic chemotherapeutics, and any other agents likely to cause genetic alterations.

It belongs to the latest generation of laminar airflow systems manufactured by Faster, in which the choice of materials of construction of the highest quality & guarantees conformity to the strictest safety standards.

It is crucial that the likelihood of drug exposure must be taken into account when considering the safety of personnel who will handle cytotoxic drugs.

Although the cytotoxic agents are used therapeutically, and most chemotherapy protocols are well-tolerated by veterinary patients, the cumulative toxicity to personnel that arises from repeated contact with these drugs can cause health problems in the staff that are beyond those expected in the patient.

The main routes of personnel exposure to cytotoxic drugs are by aerosolization or by absorption through skin. Both types of exposure can occur when preparing drugs for administration.

The act of withdrawing cytotoxic drug from the vial into a syringe is generally the step that presents personnel with the greatest potential for exposure to a high concentration of drug.

Ideally, personnel are optimally protected from drug exposure and patients are protected from contamination of the product by the use of a laminar flow biosafety cabinet (BCS) during drug preparation, regardless of whether a closed delivery system is used.

The need for protection of personnel during preparation of cytotoxic drugs presents the most significant obstacle to the safe provision of chemotherapy, as most practices are not equipped with the appropriate biosafety cabinet. This is especially true when there is a high case-load of chemotherapy patients.

Thanks to our new chemo cabinet, the chemotherapy safety standards employed at Paragon can now adhere to “an abundance of caution” approach, for both our patients and our staff.