Yoshida T et al. - In a trial to assess the clinical significance of monitoring serum levels of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) by continuous infusion in pts with advanced colonic cancer, it was found that increased serum concentration does not always provide therapeutic benefits to pts receiving continuous infusions of 5-FU Methods
Serum concentrations of 5-FU given by continuous infusion to 19 pts with advanced colonic cancer were measured by an HPLC method, and steady-state concentration (SSc), area under the curve (AUC72) and total body clearance (Cl) were calculated as pharmacokinetic parameters
Results
Serum level of 5-FU rapidly increased, reaching a plateau within 2 h after the start of administration
There were positive correlations between the dose and both SSc and AUC72
When pts were divided into toxic and non-toxic groups according to the degree of toxicity, values for SSc and AUC72 in the toxic group were significantly higher than those in non-toxic pts
The Cl value in the toxic group was also significantly different from that in the non-toxic group when data were calculated on a log scale
No differences in these parameters between effective and non-effective groups were detected when pts were divided into two groups according to anti-neoplastic responses
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