Does cell culture drug resistance testing ("CCDRT" or "cancer chemosensitivity testing") make a difference with regard to the outcome of cancer chemotherapy?


We have been performing CCDRT using fixed, standardized methodology since January 1, 1993 (my full time experience with earlier forms of CCDRT dates back to 1979).  Nearly 95% of the specimens submitted to us for testing yield a result which is reported back to the referring oncologist or surgeon.  But about 5% of specimens submitted for testing do not yield results, because of such factors as the non-viability of the specimen submitted, insufficient numbers of tumor cells in the specimen, failure of tumor cells to survive in culture, and other reasons beyond our control.

To be shown in the coming weeks are survival comparisons between patients for which submitted specimens produced a result which was reported to the referring physician and patients for which the submitted specimens failed to produce a result.

We do not have information concerning the actual treatments administered.  Nor do we have complete information regarding disease stage, patient performance status, etc. We do have the official pathology reports, prior treatment history, site of biopsy, age of patient, etc. Methods for determining the duration of patient survival may be reviewed by clicking here.

The correlations below are presently clickable (more will be added in the future).  Note: These survival curves may display too small to view clearly in some newer browsers.  To view them full-size in newer versions of Netscape, simply position the cursor over the graph area and click the mouse, which toggles the image size. To view them full-size in Explorer 6, you'll have to do the following: (1) Click on "Tools." (2) Click on "Internet Options."  (3) Click on "Advanced" tab.  (4) Scroll down to "Multimedia." (5) UNcheck "Enable Automatic Image Resizing."

1. Colorectal cancer, all extra-colonic biopsy sites (both treated and untreated analyzed together).

2 .Colorectal cancer, documented stage IV (distantly metastatic) disease, all sites (both treated and untreated analyzed together, untreated alone, and previously-treated alone).

3. Colorectal cancer, documented stage IV (distantly metastatic) disease, liver biopsy only (both treated and untreated analyzed together, untreated alone, and previously-treated alone).

4.Colorectal cancer, documented stage IV (distantly metastatic) disease, excluding liver biopsies (both treated and untreated analyzed together, untreated alone, and previously-treated alone).

5. Gastric (Stomach) cancer, extra-gastric biopsy sites (both treated and untreated analyzed together, untreated alone, and previously-treated alone).

6. Pancreatic cancer, all sites (both treated and untreated analyzed together, untreated alone, and previously-treated alone).

7. Ovarian cancer, all sites (Untreated alone and previously-treated alone).

8. Ovarian cancer, all sites, excluding early ( < 21 day post-biopsy) deaths (Untreated alone and previously-treated alone).

9. Glioblastoma Multiforme (Untreated and previously-treated analyzed together).New Feb 23, 2004

10. Breast Cancer, Metastatic (Untreated only).New Oct. 18, 2004

11. "Pure" Sarcomas (all histologies) (Both Untreated and Previously-treated).New Feb. 5, 2005
 

Note: On these matters, and as regards all material on this website, comments (signed or unsigned) are welcome and will be published and discussed on this website.

Larry Weisenthal

December 16, 2003