Monitoring salivary misonidazole in man: a possible alternative to plasma monitoring.

Concentrations of misonidazole and its O-demethylated metabolite Ro 05-9963 in the plasma and saliva of 10 patients with malignant disease have been determined. A good linear correlation was established between plasma and saliva misonidazole concentration, and salivary sampling was found to be suitable for the estimation of a number of pharmacokinetic parameters. Data are also presented for serial tumour cencentrations of misonidazole and Ro 05-9963 in 3 of the 10 patients. Monitoring of salivary misonidazole concentration appears to be a useful alternative to plasma monitoring, particularly for those patients in whom plasma sampling is unsuitable or impossible.