Chemotherapy and the future: microdialysis as a local administration technique

Chemotherapy has an important role in cancer treatment. Although there have been developments and good results, chemotherapy still has many limitations mainly due to its toxicity and to the resistance mechanisms of tumour cells. Therefore, besides other important improvements in chemotherapy agents and indications, recent researches have focused on the development of locoregional administration techniques, with which therapeutic weapons can reach the tumour with a higher concentration and fewer side-effects. At present, local chemotherapy includes delivery systems or prodrug strategies, arterial infusions, intraperitoneal administration and aerosolised agents. We will describe a new local cancer chemotherapy method, using microdyalisis procedures, which may revolutionise the actual tumour management because of the higher effectiveness and the absence of side-effects. Finally, the applications and limitations of this technique will be considered.