Sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes in operating room personnel

Sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and sister chromatid exchange points (SCE-points) were counted in lymphocytes in peripheral blood drawn from hospital personnel exposed to anesthetics as well as from persons not exposed. A total of 38 healthy persons were investigated, representing female nurse anaesthetists, male physicians practising anaesthesia, female nurses from the intensive care unit, and female secretaries. The mean SCE number per cell for each person was used as the variable, and the Mann-Whitney U-test was applied to test for differences between groups. The group of secretaries seemed to differ from the other three groups, which appeared identical (P less than 0.002). Correlation of cigarette smoking and number of SCE could not be demonstrated (r=0.255, n=38). It was concluded that by this method there was no indication of a mutagen effect of long-term exposure to waste anaesthetic gases such as halothane and nitrous oxide.