What is a drug sensitivity test?

A drug sensitivity test is a lab test that measures how easily cells are killed by a drug. When you order a Personalized Prediction Profile, ImpriMed uses a proprietary high-throughput ex vivo drug sensitivity testing platform to analyze your patient’s live cells.

For our canine leukemia and lymphoma service, we expose the cells to 13 different drugs commonly used to treat these diseases: L-Asparaginase, Mitoxantrone, Vincristine, Vinblastine, Doxorubicin, Rabacfosadine (Tanovea®), Chlorambucil, Mechlorethamine, Lomustine, Prednisolone (activated Prednisone), Mafosfamide (activated Cyclophosphamide), Melphalan, and Dexamethasone.-

What is included in the ImpriMed Immunoprofile service?

The ImpriMed Immunoprofile service includes both our Flow Cytometry and PARR reports. These comprehensive results can be used to detect the presence of lymphoma or leukemia and determine the disease subtype.

How do I collect an FNA sample?

Disinfect the skin with alcohol (70%) at the planned needle puncture site. Insert a 20-gauge needle (without syringe) into an enlarged lymph node and perform 15 - 20 aspirations using an aggressive “woodpecker style” technique. (Click to Read More)

Does pet insurance cover ImpriMed?

Most pet insurance plans that cover cancer care will typically cover ImpriMed’s services. Please check with your insurance representative to see if your plan can cover the services.

What type of sample is needed – just aspirates and a typical flow sample?

We need about 10 million cancer cells to run the full chemosensitivity panel so we ask that you conduct an aggressive woodpecker style FNA, poking as many nodes as possible and putting the cells into our proprietary media tubes (ensures we receive live cells), then of course we need a whole blood sample (2mL).

Do you test "rescue" drugs as well?

Yes, many of the 13 anticancer drugs we provide predictions for are used for rescue therapy. The drugs we test against are: L-Asparaginase, Mitoxantrone, Vincristine, Vinblastine, Doxorubicin, Tanovea, Chlorambucil, Mechlorethamine, Lomustine, Prednisone, Cyclophosphamide, Melphalan, and Dexamethasone.