Pharmacokinetic comparison between pelvic transarterial chemoembolization and transcatheter arterial chemotherapy in an animal model

Transcatheter arterial chemotherapy (TAC) and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) have greatly benefited patients suffering from gynecologic malignancies. In cervical cancer treatment, TACE appears to be more effective than TAC. We compared the pharmacokinetics of TACE with those of TAC in an animal study. Twelve female dogs were randomly divided into 2 groups (n=6), and carboplatin was applied at a concentration of 1.2 mg/kg. Carboplatin and lipiodol-carboplatin were administered by perfusion into the bilateral internal iliac arteries of the animals in the two groups, respectively. Plasma and tissues from the ovaries and uterus were collected for analysis at various time points after TAC or TACE. Pharmacokinetic analysis indicated that the uterine tissue area under the concentration (AUC) of carboplatin was approximately 2 times higher in the TACE group than in the TAC group (P<0.01). By contrast, the ovarian tissue AUC of carboplatin was much lower in the TACE group than in the TAC group (P<0.01), and was much lower than the uterine tissue AUC (P<0.01) in both groups. The plasma AUC of carboplatin was more than 2 times higher in the TACE group than in the TAC group (P<0.01). In conclusion, a pharmacological advantage of TACE treatment with lipiodol-carboplatin for gynecologic malignancies was observed.