A CROSSOVER STUDY OF ORAL-ADMINISTRATION OF UFT IN CHRONIC LIVER-DISEASE - COMPARISON OF CONTINUOUS AND INTERMITTENT SCHEDULES

This study was aimed at evaluating the tolerance to an intermittently administered oral UFT for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with chronic liver disease (CLD). Ten patients who had received curative therapy fo r HCC with CLD (Child's classification A or B) were randomly assigned either an intermittent schedule (IS), oral administration of UFT (130 mg/m(2)/b.i.d.) with 2 days rest a week, or a continuous schedule (CS) , consecutive administration of UFT with the same dose. On day 12, the serum concentration of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was measured. After 2 we eks rest, the patients were switched to the other schedule for 10 week s and the concentration of 5-FU was measured on day 12. The median val ues of the area under the curve (AUC) and maximum concentration (C-max ) of 5-FU in IS and CS were 187.7 and 263.2 ng/ml/h, 57.1 and 93.0 ng/ ml, respectively. Both the AUC and C-max for IS were significantly low er than those for CS. One IS patient had tolerable diarrhea, while thr ee of the CS patients had intolerable nausea and one had hemorrhagic g astritis. IS seemed to be a suitable measure for CLD. [(C) 1998 Lippic ott-Raven Publishers.].