Adriamycin permeability of the rat bladder under different conditions.

Fifty female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with 1.4 or 2.4 mg. adriamycin intravesically. Radioimmunological measurement of serum concentrations were performed up to 3 hours post-instillation in normal bladder mucosa, cystitis, and after electrocoagulation, under different filling conditions, as well as with the use of a detergent (Tween 80). The serum concentrations achieved were markedly higher after electrocoagulation or cystitis; altogether they reached only 1/6,000 of the instilled concentration. These studies on the rat bladder suggest that perioperative instillation of adriamycin to prevent recurrence is not contraindicated shortly before or after transurethral resection (TUR) of superficial bladder tumors.