[In vitro study of sensitivity of leukemic cells to cytotoxic drugs (anticytogram)].

The in vitro sensitivity of leukemic cells to cytotoxic drugs was assessed in 61 cases of acute leukemia in adults, 49 of them were of the no lymphoblastic type and in the first phase of the disease. The depression of the incorporation of 14-C-thymidine and 3-H-uridine after a two hours incubation with the various cytotoxic drugs was compared with the clinical result obtained with two of them There is a significant correlation between the in vitro depression of the incorporation of 14-C-thymidine and the clinical effect of the drugs. This method, which may be utilized also in solid tumors, allows to predict with some accuracy the effect of chemotherapy, and to select between the various cytotoxic drugs. However the failure of a chemotherapy is generally related to an in vitro insensitivity of the malignant cells to almost all drugs.