Chemosensitivity testing with ChemoFx and overall survival in primary ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the association between tumor responses in vitro to platinum therapy by using the ChemoFx drug response marker and overall survival ( OS) after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced-stage primary ovarian cancer (POC). STUDY DESIGN: Chemosensitivity testing was performed in vitro on tumors from 192 POC patients. Tumors were classified as responsive, intermediately responsive, and nonresponsive to chemotherapy. Physicians made all management decisions. Survival status was retrieved from the Social Security Death Index. OS was modeled using Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. RESULTS: Median OS was 72.5 months for patients with tumors categorized as responsive, 48.6 months for intermediately responsive, and 28.2 months for nonresponsive ( P = .03; hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.50-0.97). The ChemoFx prediction of responses to platinum agents was an independent predictor of OS. CONCLUSION: Results of chemosensitivity testing with a drug response marker for therapy was predictive of OS in POC patients.