Evaluation of Chemotherapy Using Cisplatin and Efficacy of Subrenal Capsule Assay for Esophageal Cancer

Abstract

Recently, in the treatment of patients with esophageal cancer, chemotherapy has been increasingly effective [1]. cis-Dichlorodiamineplatinum(II)(cisplatin) especially is a very promising effective anticancer chemotherapeutic agent. We performed treatment with cisplatin in 71 cases of esophageal cancer in the past 5 years. Cisplatin was administered alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents such as bleomycin, methotrexate, pepleomycin, and vindesine (Table 1). Recently we have performed SRCA (subrenal capsule assay) as a chemosensitivity test, for the purpose of more effective chemotherapy for patients with esophageal cancer. Bogden et al. first proposed the SRCA method by using nude mice for a period of 11 days in 1977 [2]. However, in 1979 they shortened this period to 6 days by using immunocompetent mice [3]. In this method, a fresh specimen of a human tumor is implanted under the renal capsule of normal immunocompetent mice [4, 5]. We report here on our SRCA technique and its feasibility for application in the treatment of esophageal cancer.