Penetration of oral fluconazole into gynecological tissues

Penetration of fluconazole into female genital tissues was examined. Fluconazole was administered orally at a dose of 150 mg to patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy 1 to 151 h prior to surgery. During surgery, blood, uterus, ovary, and oviduct were sampled. Fluconazole concentrations in each tissue were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The peak concentrations in serum reached approximately 6.1 microg/ml 1.0 h after a drip infusion was begun. At each time after the infusion, the concentrations in portio vaginalis, cervix uteri, myometrium, endometrium, ovary, and oviduct were higher than those in the serum: the peaks in the tissues ranged from 6.4 to 9.5 microg/g around 1.0 h after the drip infusion was begun. Thus, the levels of penentration of fluconazole into gynecological tissues appeared to be similar to or slightly above those in serum samples. Fluconazole can rapidly penetrate from plasma into the female genital organs, supporting high efficacy of fluconazole against fungal infections in the field of gynecology.