Retrospective Analysis of the Dose Banding Technique in a Public Hospital in the Agreste of Pernambuco

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  The dose banding technique standardizes doses of anticancer drugs, rounding them into predefined bands. This approach aims to optimize resources, reduce waste, and ensure safety in the preparation of chemotherapy. Created in the United Kingdom, dose banding allows doses to be prepared more quickly and economically, with controlled variations, increasing the supply of services without increasing costs to the health system. Agreed upon by the multidisciplinary team, this approach facilitates the management of cancer treatment, maintaining its efficacy and safety.

Objective:  Analyze the sample using the dose banding technique in a public hospital located in the Agreste region of Pernambuco.

Method:  To identify the antineoplastics with dose banding most likely to impact the production service of pharmaceutical preparations, three criteria (limit of viability) indicating the possible antineoplastics to be viable products were used to consider the applicability of the technique according to logarithmic dose banding: (a) antineoplastic preparations ≥ 150 per year; (b) individualized doses ≥ 10 per dose banding; (c) total dose bands ≤ 5 covering a total of ≥ 60% of all individualized doses for a given drug.

Results:  A total of nine antineoplastics showed viability according to the study: cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, docetaxel, doxorubicin, fluorouracil-bolus, fluorouracil-pump, gemcitabine, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and paclitaxel. Carboplatin results were not enough to achieve viability for production through dose banding.

Conclusion:  There is a need for more research on the performance of technologies and processes for the applicability of the dose banding technique.

Key words:
Antineoplastic Agents/ administration & dosage; Economics, Pharmaceutical; Hospitals, Public; Pharmaceutical Preparations