[Pharmacokinetic study of doxorubicin in the treatment of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphomas].

We have studied the plasma kinetics of doxorubicin treatment in nine patients with non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma. Four patients were studied following the first two injections of this drug, the other five patients were studied only after the first injection. Our results corroborate the existence of three successive phases of doxorubicin plasma decay, with mean half-lives of 3.81 min, 1.19 h and 29 h. We observed an important variation of the pharmacokinetic parameters related to the distribution volumes. The total plasmatic clearance ranged between 32 and 67 l/h. The kinetics of doxurubicin are time-dependent, i.e. an important variation of the pharmacokinetic parameters related to the distribution volumes. The total plasmatic clearance ranged between 32 and 67 l/h. The kinetics of doxurubicin are time-dependent, i.e. an important variation of the pharmacokinetic parameters existed after the 2nd injection of the drug in three out of four patients. These 3 patients showed either an increase of the elimination half-life (1 case) or an increase of the distribution volume (1 case) or a decrease of the distribution volume (1 case) after the 2nd injection. We observed a significant correlation between the age of the patients and the early clearance of the drug, the youngest patients eliminating the drug more rapidly than the oldest ones. This observation may lead to the administration of different dosages of doxorubicin according to the age of the patient.