The aim of the present investigation is to determine initial G2-chromosome aberrations and to validate whether the G2-chromosome aberrations can predict the cellular clonogenic survival in human tumor cell lines. Cell lines of human ovary carcinoma cells (HO8910) and human hepatoma cells (HepG2) were irradiated with a range of doses and assessed both for initial G2-chromosome aberrations and for cell survival after γ-irradiation. The initial G2-chromosome aberrations were measured by counting the number of G2-chromatid breaks after irradiation, detected by the premature chromosome condensation technique, and the G2-assay method. Cell survival was documented by a colony formation assay. A linear-quadratic survival curve was observed in both cell lines. The dose–response results show that the numbers of G2-chromatid breaks increase with the increase in dose in the two cell lines. At higher doses (higher than 4Gy) of irradiation, the number of G2-chromatid breaks for the G2-assay method cannot be determined because too few cells reach mitosis, and hence their detection is difficult. A good correlation is found between the clonogenic survival and the radiation-induced initial G2-chromatid breaks per cell (r=0.9616). The present results suggest that the premature chromosome condensation technique may be useful for determining chromatid breaks in G2 cells, and the number of initial G2-chromatid breaks holds promise for predicting the radiosensitivity of tumor cells.