For the study, the researchers focused their efforts on early stage breast cancer with no spread to lymph nodes and hormone-positive, meaning that the growth of their tumors was fueled by either progesterone or estrogen.
Advertisement
Ann Louise Puopolo was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer 5 years ago.
He added, “To a few extent, it’s surprising because cancer treatment is quite toxic, and we know most chemotherapy drugs cross the placenta. With the rising trend of delaying childbearing, more breast cancer patients are diagnosed without having completed their families and thus it is vital to provide reliable fertility preservation methods for these young women”.
The test accurately identified a group of women whose cancers are so likely to respond to hormone therapy that adding chemo would do little if any good. Joseph Sparano, leader of the study, doctor at Montefiore Medical Center, NYC, said that the study’s results are incontestable. Dr. Clifford Hudis is a field expert from The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York).
A gene test is a valid method of telling breast cancer patients whether it is safe for them to skip chemotherapy or not, a new study suggests. The five-year overall patient survival was 98 percent. Previous Oncotype DX studies have already confirmed the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for those in the high Recurrence Score range.
Based on these findings, the team concludes that most women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer are unlikely to need chemotherapy.
Women with high Recurrence Score results (greater than or equal to 31) and intermediate Recurrence Score results (between 18 and 30) had a 4 percent and 2.3 percent risk of distant recurrence, respectively, after five years of follow-up.
This finding, published online today by the New England Journal of Medicine, provides evidence that other women in the future may effectively use hormonal therapy alone if the Recurrence Score is 10 or less.
The study shows the value of using a gene-activity test to gauge each patient’s risk. Doctors tend to rely on the assay when they want more information before deciding whether to recommend chemotherapy to their patients.
The researchers noted the limitations of the study, which included not testing the effects of all chemotherapy drugs as well as not looking at a child’s long-term risk.
According to Time, the mothers received treatment over the course of their pregnancies’ final two months, and researchers evaluated the children’s health on more than one occasion after birth.
Advertisement
“In most cases, they were born prematurely due to a medical decision to induce preterm so as to continue cancer treatment after the delivery”, Amant said. This study has classified women as low risk, intermediate or high risk by the performance level of the gene test. The new study assigned treatment based on the scores and tracks of test results.
