Summanr Carboplatin. a cisplatinum analogue, has no reported nephrotoxicity in phase I'II studies, assessed by creatinine clearance. We prospectively deterniined renal function in 10 untreated lung cancer patients with normal baseline renal function, treated with carboplatin 400mgm 2 day 1 and vincristine 2mg day 1 al., 1985). An alternative approach was the synthesis of analogues of cisplatin with the aim to find Pt-complexes with less nephrotoxicity and more or comparable antitumour activity (Burchenal et al., 1979). About 2,000 second generation Pt-compounds have been synthesised and screened for cytotoxicity. Only a few have been selected for clinical evaluation, of which carboplatin (CBDCA, JM8) probably is the most promising. In human and animal studies carboplatin has demonstrated increased haematological toxicity compared to CDDP, but it is less emetogenic and has little or no oto-or neurotoxicity and no nephrotoxicity even in the absence of forced diuresis (Lelieveld et al.. 1984: Van Glabbeke et al., 1988. In these studies the renal function was measured by monitoring serum creatinine and creatinine clearances. However, the determination of creatinine as a reflection of the glomerular filtration rate has proved to be a relatively insensitive method to monitor CDDP-induced renal damage (Meijer et al., 1983;Daugaard et al., 1988). Moreover, using 52Cr EDTA clearances, Calvert et al. (1982) were also unable to identify CBDCA as a nephrotoxic drug.In this study we prospectively determined changes in glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow by the more sensitive method developed by Donker et al. (1977) in 10 patients treated with standard dose carboplatin. The possible tubular damage was monitored by measuring the excretion of tubular enzymes.
Methods
Patients and therapyTen patients, one female, nine male, were studied. All had histologically proved lung cancer (eight small cell lung cancer, one squamous cell carcinoma, one endobronchial carcinoid). One All patients were treated with carboplatin 400mgm 2 day 1 and vincristine 2mg day 1 and 8 every 4 weeks. Carboplatin was dissolved in 250 ml of glucose 5% and given as a 30 mn i.v. infusion on day 1. Vincristine was given as bolus injection. No pre-or post-hydration was given.Seven responding patients received the maximum of five courses. The treatment had to be stopped in two patients after three and in one patient after two courses. because of tumour progression.Renal function studies Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) were measured simultaneously in supine position with radioisotopes. ERPF was determined by measuring the clearance of 1311-hippuran (I x V P) and GFR by the clearance of '251-iothalamate (Ux V P) (I= counts per minute of I ml sustaining solution, V= infusion volume or urine volume in ml per minute, P =counts per minute in 2 ml of plasma and U=counts per minute in 2ml urine). After a standard pnrmary dose and sustaining infusion for 2h, 1-h clearances were determined for acute ef...