title: Can pharmacokinetic monitoring improve clinical use of fluorouracil?
abstract: Fluorouracil is used clinically against a variety of solid tumors. It is a prodrug that undergoes a series of intracellular conversions to active cytotoxic species. There is wide interindividual variability in fluorouracil metabolism; furthermore, it has nonlinear kinetics that make it relatively more difficult to predict plasma concentrations after brief infusions compared with prolonged infusions. There is an increasing body of evidence that relates plasma fluorouracil concentrations to toxicity and effectiveness, and consequently there may be a definable mathematical relationship that describes a 'therapeutic window'. Dose nomograms and pharmacokinetic models based on limited sampling strategies have been developed, as have empirical dose escalation schedules based on multivariate analysis of the determinants of toxicity, The utility of these approaches should be tested in properly powered, prospective, randomised trials.
authors.affiliation: CRC Institute of Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, England. a.young@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daryanani
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kerr
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D005472:Fluorouracil