Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
-
Drug toxicities are often a limiting factor in long term treatment regimes used in conjunction with radiotherapy. If the drug could be localized to the tumor site and released slowly, then optimal, intra-tumoral drug concentrations could be achieved without the cumulative toxicity associated with repeated systemic drug dosage. In this paper we describe the use of a biodegradable polymer implant for sustained intra-tumoral release of high concentrations of drugs targeting hypoxic cells. ⋯ These results indicate that the biodegradable polymer implant is an effective vehicle for the intra-tumoral delivery of Etanidazole and Tirapazamine and that, in conjunction with radiation, this approach could improve treatment outcome in tumors which contain a sub-population of hypoxic, radioresistant cells.