treatment could be to test all possible drugs on thousands of miniature versions of a person’s tumour, grown in the lab, to see which works the best. The technique, sometimes called drug sensitivity testing, may have already helped a few children with advanced cancer live for longer than the standard approach.at Florida International University in Miami. “I would say it will help guide treatments in any , whether it’s aggressive or not.
Currently, doctors select whichever drug is usually employed against that cancer type or use their judgement to choose between a few options. If the first treatment fails to make the tumour shrink, a different drug would then be tried, but this trial-and-error process can take months and may have harsh side effects.“Detrimental side effects occur that lower a patient’s overall health and make it much harder to continue treatment,” says Azzam.
The drug sensitivity testing led to a recommended treatment for 19 of the participants. Only six ultimately had the advised treatment because some doctors overrode the recommendation, while other children deteriorated too quickly and had to withdraw from the study.