Diffusion of ketoprofen into the cerebrospinal fluid of young children.

BACKGROUND: The objective was to examine whether or not ketoprofen enters the cerebrospinal fluid after a single oral dose of 1 mg.kg-1 syrup, and to find out what is the lowest plasma concentration that will achieve a measurable level in the cerebrospinal fluid.
METHODS: We measured ketoprofen concentrations both in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of 10 young and healthy children (aged 9-86 months) after surgery with spinal anaesthesia. Samples of cerebrospinal fluid were collected 30 min after drug administration, at the same time as venous blood samples. A validated high-performance liquid chromatography method with a lower limit of 0.02 microg x ml(-1) was used to detect ketoprofen concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.
RESULTS: Ketoprofen was detectable in the cerebrospinal fluid only in the child who had the highest plasma concentration, 7.4 microg x ml(-1), while at plasma concentrations 6.5 microg x ml(-1) or less, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations remained unmeasurable. The detected CSF/plasma ratio was 0.008.
CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that ketoprofen at a dose of 1 mg x kg(-1) is too low to produce measurable CSF levels within 30 min of oral administration.