PHARMACOKINETIC MONITORING OF ANTICANCER DRUGS AT KING-FAISAL-SPECIALIST-HOSPITAL, RIYADH, SAUDI-ARABIA

Pharmacokinetic monitoring of anticancer agents has the potential to b ecome of considerable clinical value. Recognizing this and the leading role of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH & RC) in health care delivery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, particu larly in oncology, the authors have established a pharmacokinetics ser vice and research laboratory equipped with the state-of-the-art analyt ical instrumentation. After the acquisition of these instruments, we i nitiated research work that lead to the development of improved analyt ical methods for methotrexate and 7-OH methotrexate (high-performance liquid chromatography [HPLC]), doxorubicin (HPLC), etoposide (HPLC), 5 -fluorouracil (HPLC), mitoxantrone (HPLC), mesna and dimesna (HPLC), t axol (HPLC), aminoglutethimide (HPLC), tamoxifen (HPLC), and acrolein (HPLC), cisplatin or carboplatin (electrothermal atomic absorption spe ctrophotometry, ETAAS), cyclophosphamide (gas chromatography) and CCNU and BCNU (gas chromatography). Currently, most of these drugs are mon itored selectively as requested by oncologists at the KFSH & RC. The a uthors are aware that controlled, randomized studies of the concentrat ion-effect relationships for many of these drugs are still missing. Ho wever, the authors hope that once these studies become available, this service will be used more fully.