Penetration of Fluconazole into Gynaecological Tissues

Abstract

The penetration of fluconazole into female genital tissue was examined in this study in which fluconazole was administered intravenously for 60 minutes at a dose of 200mg to patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy, at 1 to 51 hours prior to surgery. During surgery, the blood, uterus, ovary and oviduct were sampled, and the fluconazole concentrations in each tissue were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The peak serum concentrations reached approximately 6.1 mg/L 1 hour after beginning the drip infusion. At each time after the infusion, the concentrations in the portio vaginalis, cervix uteri, myometrium, endometrium, ovary and oviduct were higher than those in the serum: the peak concentrations in tissue ranged from 6.4 to 9.5 μg/g about 1 hour after beginning the drip infusion. Thus, the penetration of fluconazole into gynaecological tissue appeared to be similar to or slightly higher than those in serum samples. Fluconazole can rapidly penetrate from plasma into the female genital organs, supporting the high efficacy of fluconazole against gynaecological fungal infections.