LAUSR

ABSTRACT For decades, cytostatic drugs have been widely used in chemotherapy. However, many of these chemicals are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic compounds, triggering widespread concerns about the drug-related occupational exposure and eco-toxicological risks to the environment. Moreover, cytostatics cannot be successfully removed from wastewater by conventional mechanical-biological wastewater treatment, which is due to the physicochemical properties of these drugs, e.g. low value of octanol-water partition coefficient (logKo/w), high solubility in water, low biodegradability, and sensitivity to photolysis. The present work is a review of data concerning the removal of cytostatic drugs by means of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) that were reported in the period 2005–2016. Until now, AOPs-based methods for the cytostatic drug removal from water and wastewater, such as ozonation, UV/oxidant, UV/Fenton reaction, UV/photocatalyst, and electrochemical oxidation at active and non-active anodes, have been investigated. In this paper, we review the effectiveness of AOPs in the removal of cytostatic drugs from aqueous media. Moreover, we discuss the mechanisms of cytostatic drug decomposition based on the identified intermediates. The analysis of biodegradability and eco-toxicity of effluents after AOPs-based treatments is also presented.