Studies in pharmacokinetics and tolerance of substances temporarily retained in the liver by microsphere embolization.

Earlier investigation has shown that a temporary arrest of arterial blood flow can be achieved by embolization with degradable microspheres. This study was made to investigate the change in pharmacokinetics, and drug tolerance which takes place when a substance is retained in the liver by a microsphere embolization. 14C-labelled inulin and 5-fluorouracil were studied. The administration of these substances with microspheres led to a delay in their systemic distribution. Furthermore there was an increased tolerance to 5-fluoro-uracil, probably due to a prolonged first pass effect when the substance was temporarily retained in the liver by a microsphere embolization.