Determination of intraperitoneal mitoxantrone in the serum of cancer patients using a high performance liquid chromatograph coupled to an Advanced Automated Sample Processor (AASP).

A study has been carried out on 10 patients with ovarian cancer treated by intraperitoneal mitoxantrone. The serum concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric detection. The extracted analyte on the cartridge was injected and eluted on-line into the analytical column by the mobile phase. This improved the signal and sample processing rate, without significant loss in analytical performance. Excellent linearity (r greater than 0.9994) was observed for the calibration curve over the range 1-2000 ng/mL, along with a precision within-day and between-day estimated as 1.5% and 5.6%, respectively. Sensitivity was an order of magnitude higher than that of the comparison method. From a clinical point of view, these preliminary results have shown that intraperitoneal administration is more beneficial than intravenous therapy. Low serum levels (1-30 ng/mL) with a maximum at the first or second hour are revealed.