INTATHORACIC PACLITAXEL!

Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2009 Feb 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Related Articles, LinkOut

Intrathoracic injection of paclitaxel for a patient with stage IV serous ovarian cancer: a case report.

Mitamura T, Hosaka M, Takeda M, Watari H, Sakuragi N.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, North15, West7, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, pikarun2620@jcom.home.ne.jp.

BACKGROUND: There have so far only been few reports on the intrathoracic injection (IT) of paclitaxel for ovarian cancer. CASE: The patient was treated with IT paclitaxel to control a large volume of pleural effusion as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A total of 220 mg (110 mg in each thoracic cavity) of paclitaxel was administrated and the pleural effusion dramatically decreased. The intrathoracic concentration of paclitaxel was 1,524.0, 107.5, 8.1, 11.0 and 3.8 mum/l at 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h, respectively. The plasma concentration was 0.05, 0.11, 0.07, 0.04 and 0.02 mum/l, respectively. CONCLUSION: An extremely high concentration was maintained over 96 h and there was slight transition into general circulation following IT administration. IT paclitaxel might be effective in some patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma who have a refractory tumor in the thoracic cavity.