In consideration of the statement of Professor Masys of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville who recently claimed “The most common adverse drug effect is . . . it just doesn’t work” and in view of severe short-term adverse events and long-term devastating consequences of chemotherapy recently reported by Professor Piccart (Department of Medical Oncology, Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels) we strongly recommend testing of the individual efficacy of chemotherapeutic and biologic agents using short-term cultures of the patient’s tumor cells.

 To support physicians in their treatment decisions we offer a test providing both sensitivity and resistance information for an individual cancer patient’s tumor cells. The test can be applied to a variety of cancer tissues and for a broad range of chemotherapeutic and biologic drugs.

 In the adjuvant setting, after surgery and without any signs of metastases, chemotherapy has the potential to definitely cure the malignant disease. To avoid personally ineffective drugs is definitively life-saving in this setting. The test can also be recommended if the disease has recurred. In case of none response to prior chemotherapy the assay is helpful, too. Especially in the case of an infrequent malignant disease for which no standard treatment is known, testing can have a vital importance.

 We are using a short-term ATP-based tumor chemosensitivity assay (ATP-TCA). Test results are reported within 7 days after arrival of the tumor tissue, thus no significant delay in treatment should occur.

Test pre-conditions

Mandatory prerequisite for the ATP-TCA test is sterile fresh (not frozen, not formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded) tumor tissue. At least 40 mg (2-3 core-needle biopsies) of tissue are required. Equally well suited as solid tumor tissue are fluid specimens (liquids containing cancerous cells occurring in body cavities for example in the cavity between the lungs and the pleura or the abdominal cavity). Detailed rules for sampling are provided with our Specimen Collection and Transport Kit.

Test duration

Maximum test duration is 7 days.

 Logistics

Lead time between notification of our Lab and surgery must not be shorter than 24 hours for tissue collection within Germany. Fourty-eight hours are required for other European countries. At least 72 hours are necessary for most non-European countries.