ChemoFx assay (Precision Therapeutics Inc.) for prediction of response to chemotherapy
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, despite the availability of a wide range of effective chemotherapy drugs. Physicians generally base decisions on chemotherapy regimens for a particular patient on clinical evidence that has accumulated on the typical drug sensitivity of the type of cancer being treated. This generalized approach often, but not always, leads to a partial or complete response. Information about the responsiveness of a patient's cancer to certain drugs (chemosensitivity) would help to guide treatment decisions, and potentially improve health outcomes. For chemosensitivity testing, cancer cells are removed from a patient, grown in a laboratory, and exposed to various chemotherapeutic drugs. In some cases, the cancer cells show unexpected behavior, such as resistance to the drugs usually used to treat that particular cancer and sensitivity to the drugs that are not usually used. In theory, the drugs that have the greatest effect on a patient's cancer cells in the laboratory will have the greatest effect on the cancer cells in the patient.
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Survival Rate
- Treatment Outcome