An in vitro chemosensitivity test for colorectal cancer using collagen-gel droplet embedded cultures.

This study evaluated in vitro assay for chemosensitivity test using a collagen-gel droplet embedded culture drug sensitivity test (CD-DST) for colorectal cancer. CD-DST was performed in 24 patients with Dukes B, C colorectal cancer. Primary cultures of tumor cell samples from 87.5% (21/24) patients with colorectal cancer were successful. The efficacy rates assessed by CD-DST of five anticancer drugs evaluated were: 60.4% for adriamycin, 58.9% for etoposide, 56.7% for cisplatin, 53.4% for 5-fluorouracil, for 31.1% for mitomycin C, and 9.5% for vindesine. The present study demonstrated the clinical usefulness of CD-DST in evaluating the response to chemotherapy in colorectal cancer.