MEASUREMENT OF CEFUROXIME IN HUMAN BRONCHOALVEOLAR LAVAGE FLUID BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AFTER SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION

A sensitive and selective method for the determination of cefuroxime i n bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid using high-performance Liquid chr omatography (HPLC) with UV detection at 280 nm after solid-phase extra ction with C-18 cartridges was developed. A Waters symmetry C-18 colum n was used and the mobile phase was acetonitrile-0.05 hi ammonium phos phate buffer (pH 3.2) (15:85, v/v). The method enabled the determinati on of cefuroxime at concentrations below 100 ng/ml, with a linear cali bration curve at concentrations of 5-100 ng/ml for 400 mu l of BAL. Th e intra- and inter-assay coefficient of variations for 10, 40 and 80 n g/ml were between 5.3 and 8.9%. Analytical recoveries were between 92. 7 and 106.2%. The detection limit was 1 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise rat io of 3:1 using 400 mu l of BAL, The method was successfully used for the analysis of BAL fluid from patients after oral administration of 5 00 mg cefuroxime axetil twice daily.