THE CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF CHEMOSENSITIVITY TESTING IN OVARIAN-CANCER

The aim of this study was to assess the role of in vitro chemosensitiv ity testing in ovarian cancer using the MTT assay. Cells were separate d from solid biopsy or ascitic fluid samples from 73 patients with ova rian adenocarcinoma, FIGO stage III to IV, on presentation. A 48 h dru g exposure was followed by the MTT assay to determine sensitivity. Pat ients were treated by conventional regimens containing platinum. There was a marked variation in sensitivity to the platinum drugs between i ndividual patients. Clinical data were available for 37 patients. Elev en out of seventeen (65%) patients in the sensitive group had a comple te response to therapy, compared with 3 out of 20 (15%) in the resista nt group (p = 0.005). The overall survival rates were 36% for the sens itive group compared with 18% for the resistant group (p = 0.37). This study suggests that chemosensitivity testing in ovarian cancer may be effective in improving initial clinical response.