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Appropriate busulfan dosing

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 35, pages 199–200 (2005)Cite this article

We read the article by Shaw et al1 with great interest. The administration of a single daily busulfan dose has several practical advantages over traditional q6h dosing. First, as Shaw et al1 have pointed out, a more accurate evaluation of AUC is possible even in patients with a prolonged absorption phase. Second, nursing and pharmacy workload is reduced and some patients may find it less bothersome to take 1 dose each day.

These points are perhaps counterbalanced by practical disadvantages such as the need for children to swallow large numbers of tablets within a short period of time. For example, a child of 1 m2 taking a 150 mg dose would be asked to swallow 75 2 mg busulfan tablets. In our experience, many patients will vomit oral busulfan doses and many will require an NG tube to take each dose successfully. Shaw et al1 did not mention the maximum time period in which children were expected to take the entire dose or their strategy when a child vomited soon after dose administration.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Haematology Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    P Das, J Doyle & L L Dupuis

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Division of Hematology Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    L L Dupuis

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  1. P Das
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  2. J Doyle
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  3. L L Dupuis
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Das, P., Doyle, J. & Dupuis, L. Appropriate busulfan dosing. Bone Marrow Transplant 35, 199–200 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704737

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