Yes Andrea! Why didn't I learn about them until after Ann's death? They were available back in 1996. In fact, I educated Ann's thoracic surgical oncologist about them and she would want to have them done if she ever developed cancer. She didn't know about them either in 1996. Heck! My PCP use to hang around with Dr. William R. Grace's (whose been using them in his private practice for over 20 years) younger sister when they were children, and and he didn't even know about them, or he would have had them done for us. Why my 17 year advocacy!
It's a shame Drs. Burstein and Ajani have no knowledge of the CSRA's like most medical oncologists don't. The oncologists who don't believe in assay testing most likely are ones who only have knowledge (if any knowledge at all) of the old technology that uses cell-growth endpoints, a technology that hasn't been used in private labs for over twenty years, who use cell-death endpoints. Good review papers exist on cell culture assays and are increasingly appreciated, understood and applied by the private sector and European clinicians and scientists (as well as elsewhere).
Not many medical oncologists understand the scientific method of assay validation and clinical evaluation, based on using real-time, real patient data, under real-world conditions, to guide medical evidence. In short, it is a complex and thorough analysis. Until the controlled, randomized trialist approach has delivered curative results with a high success rate, the choice of physicians (and patients) to integrate promising insights and methods like the assays, remains an essential component of this kind of research and treatment technology.
Why Oncologists Don’t Like In Vitro Chemosensitivity Tests?
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=59243