Distribution of platinum in patients treated with cisplatin determined by radiochemical neutron activation analysis

Cisplatin is used in a successful treatment of testicular cancer and some related conditions, but several toxic effects have been observed. Knowledge about the distribution of platinum in the human body after treatment with massive doses of cisplatin might provide clues to the origin of side effects, and a study was initiated to provide such information by the analysis of postmortem samples by our method of radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA). Autopsy samples of kidney, liver, lung, muscle, and pancreas were taken with stainless steel scalpels together with samples of nerve tissue from 2 male and 2 female patients, treated with different doses of cisplatin. Platinum and gold was determined in all samples. Results for platinum were found to depend not only on the total amount of cisplatin ingested, but also on the time between the last dose and death. Highest concentrations were found in the liver, kidney and testis, and a significant drop could be seen during the first two months after the treatment was stopped; concentrations in nerve tissue were much lower than in the organs and showed clearly the effect of the blood-brain barrier. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.