Microdialysis: an in vivo approach for measuring drug delivery in oncology

Microdialysis (MD) is a catheter-based sampling method that provides the opportunity to directly study tumor drug exposure and metabolism in a minimally invasive way. Tumor drug exposure, which is directly linked to clinical outcome, may be substantially reduced due to diffusion barriers in solid tumors. Therefore plasma drug profiles are frequently inappropriate for predicting outcome in oncology. This contribution focuses on the application of MD in preclinical and clinical oncological research and presents an overview of the current literature. It is concluded that MD, in combination with pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling, has the potential to contribute to the design of optimal treatment schedules and to select appropriate drug candidates, doses, and dosing intervals for established and new anticancer drugs.