Chemosensitivity tests

Hi there!

My mom has just been diagnosed with IIIa bc, and promptly told that neoadjuvant chemo is the thing for her. When asked why, the doctors mostly just shrugged. Yes, she has node involvement, and the chemo is for killing off the cancer cells in the bloodstream and lymphatic system, but they say there are a lot of downsides – getting your treatment and chemo cocktail just right is sometimes not off the bat, getting to big of an exposure to chemo (since it is continued after surgery as well), the cheese like structure of the tumor after neo chemo, her history of poor reactions when her immune system is down and the possibility of spread during pre-op chemo (small but still there).

So, a forum member told me a bit about chemosensitivity tested ex vivo (with live cancer cells), and that she could get me the name of a lab in Canada. That is all fine and dandy, but for somebody that lives in Europe, sending tissue samples to Canada is a lot of paperwork, and not a foolproof plan.

Any way, does anyone know something about labs that do these types of test in Europe? Or have you heard about a USA or Canada based lab that works with long-distance sent samples?

Thnx in advance! *hugz*