[Chemosensitivity test for gastric carcinoma].

A chemosensitivity test using growth assay with MTT endpoint was recently evaluated in a retrospective clinical trial and was found to correlate to drug sensitivity, resistance and patient survival. In addition, there were no significant differences in the survival rates between "Resistant" group and surgery-alone group. In order to further investigate the potential of chemosensitivity test (Histoculture Drug Response Assay or HDRA) to contribute to patient survival, 215 patients with gastric cancer from 45 medical centers were tested with the HDRA in a blinded study after resection of the primary lesion. One hundred and sixty-eight patients received at least 20 mg/m2 of mitomycin C (MMC) and a minimum of 30 g/body of UFT, thereby making them eligible for the study. Of these cases 128 were evaluable by HDRA. The evaluable patient tumors were tested by HDRA with the [3H] thymidine incorporation endpoint measured by micro-autoradiography to be Drug "Sensitive" or "Resistant". Most importantly in the blinded study, the overall and disease-free survival rates of the HDRA "Sensitive" Group were found to be significantly higher than that of the HDRA "Resistant" Group tested under the above conditions. The results demonstrate that the HDRA response correlates to patient survival, which suggests the potential of the HDRA to contribute to patient survival in gastric cancer when used prospectively.