[Pretherapeutic chemosensitivity testing of ovarian cancer and possibilities for its clinical use]

Authors report on their experiences concerning in vitro clonogenic assay performed according to Hamburger and Salmon on solid tumor tissue samples (13 cases) and ascites cells (5 cases) obtained from 16 ovarian cancer patient. Out of the 13 solid tumors they got single cell suspension with sufficient number of cells in each case. Colony formation was observed in 10 out of 18 specimens. Dose-response curves were determined after incubation of cells with different concentrations of the following drugs: cis-platin, adriamycin and melphalan. Patients were treated with the CAP combination chemotherapy. The correlation between clinical responses and in vitro sensitivity was evaluated retrospectively. The analysis of the in vitro-in vivo correlation showed that in case of in vitro resistance against two components of the CAP combination the tumor progressed during CAP treatment. In case of in vitro resistance against one component except cis-platin CAP therapy could cause even complete response. By in vitro cis-platin resistance the maximum response with CAP treatment was partial remission.