Abstract： Objective To investigate the clinical value of ATP bioluminescence tumor chemosensitivity assay (ATP-TCA) for recurrent and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) specimens in vitro.Methods Thirty-four freshly taken recurrent and refractory NHL specimens were tested in vitro for cancer chemosensitivity by ATP-TCA.Results Drug sensitivity of NHL specimens had heterogeneity.Different drugs had different tumor growth inhibition ratio in vitro.Response rate (RR) of the patients receiving chemotherapy according to in vitro assay was 82.4 ％ (28/34),complete response rate (CR) was 52.9 ％ (18/34).In DICE group RR was 60.0 ％ (18/30),CR rate was 33.3 ％ (10/30).In GDP group RR was 62.3 ％ (33/53),CR rate was 26.4 ％ (14/53).In ATP-TCA group RR was significantly higher than those in DICE and GDP groups (x2 =3.93,P =0.047; x2 =3.98,P =0.046).Conclusion The results of ATP-TCA assay are correlated well with clinical treatment responses.The assay may be an important and useful method for individual-based chemotherapy of cancers.