Therapeutic drug monitoring opportunities in cancer therapy

Cancer is a common cause of death, and improvements in treatment are desperately needed. The high degree of variation in systemic exposure far a given dose and the relationships between blood concentrations and either toxic or antitumor effects would suggest that therapeutic drug monitoring is a potential mechanism for improving the treatment of individual patients. In this review, the case for therapeutic drug monitoring is made in a select number of commonly used cancer drugs and areas that require more concerted effort are highlighted. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.