ROUTINE ANALYSIS OF FLUOROURACIL IN PLASMA BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY - A COMPARISON AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PHARMACOKINETIC ANALYSIS

A comparison between a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) and a gas chromatographic (Gc assay -for routine determination of 5-fluorouraci1 (FUra) in plasma is described. Both assays are based upon a rapid and simple plasma pretreatment without any derivatization step and without application of gradient elution and temperature programming. More than 150 plasma samples obtained from breast cancer patients treated with FUra were compared. A good correlation as determined by perpendicular regression analysis was found with r = 0.9742. Consequences for pharmacokinetic analysis were also investigated. No significant differences between mean pharmacokinetic parameters based on the two assays were found but intrapatient variability for some pharmacokinetic parameters has been demonstrated. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.