title: Interpatient and intrapatient variability in vinblastine pharmacokinetics.
abstract: We analyzed interpatient and intrapatient differences in vinblastine pharmacokinetics in 24 patients treated with a bolus dose of vinblastine followed by prolonged (2 to 36 weeks) continuous infusion via an implantable pump. The bolus vinblastine serum clearance was 552 +/- 182 ml/min/m2, with a terminal half-life of 29.2 +/- 11.2 hours. After steady state was achieved (2 weeks), the infusion clearance was 646 +/- 221 ml/min/m2. Interpatient differences in serum albumin levels were correlated with both the bolus clearance (r = 0.49) and the initial (first month) infusion clearance (r = 0.39). The infusion clearance decreased over the duration of the infusion (726 vs. 489 ml/min/m2; P = 0.001;months 1 vs. 4). Analysis of intrapatient changes in vinblastine clearance demonstrated a positive correlation with albumin (P less than 0.01) and negative correlation with dose (P less than 0.05). These results are consistent with a nonlinear pharmacokinetic model. We conclude that interpatient and intrapatient differences in vinblastine pharmacokinetics can be attributed partially to changes in hepatic function and nonlinear elimination at higher doses.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D007700:Kinetics; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D008875:Middle Aged; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D014747:Vinblastine