Patients and methods: Twenty-one patients with metastatic ovarian cancer with minimal residual disease confined to the peritoneal cavity, were treated with intraperitoneal-administered carboplatin. Carboplatin was added to 2 liters of fluid and given via a Tenckoff-catheter. A dwell-time of 4 hours was allowed. After removal of fluid the amount of recovered carboplatin was determined.
Results: It appeared that the median recovery of carboplatin was 25.5% (range 2%-56%). There was a great interpatient variability of carboplatin recovery but it was relatively constant during consecutive courses.
Conclusions: Optimal dosing of intraperitoneal-administered carboplatin with a dwell-time is not possible because of the differences in recovery. This manifested itself in the fact that the absorbed dose, as well as a calculated Area Under the concentration versus time Curve (AUC), were much better related to toxicity than the administered dose.