Should A Breast Cancer Patient Skip Chemo? Gene Testing May Provide Answer
“You would have to treat 100 of those [patients] with chemotherapy for the benefit of one,” says Dr. Laura van’t Veer, a leader of the breast oncology program at the University of California, San Francisco, who helped develop the test.
KQED:
With Gene Test, Some Breast Cancer Patients Can Skip Chemo: Study
In a boost for the concept of precision medicine and genetic testing, a major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday has found that some early-stage, post-operative breast cancer patients can avoid potentially dangerous and expensive chemotherapy with only a slightly lower survival rate and without the cancer spreading. The study found that 46 percent of women who were classified as high-risk clinically but low-risk genetically could skip chemo with just a slightly higher chance – 1.5 percent — of not surviving or their cancer having metastasized after five years. (Brooks, 8/24)
Stat:
Using DNA Tests To Let Women With Breast Cancer Skip Chemo
It’s a dilemma more and more cancer patients will face as genetic testing becomes part of everyday health care: When a DNA test indicates low risk of a tumor spreading, but traditional tests show a high risk, which do you believe? According to a large European study of 6,693 patients published on Wednesday, many women with early breast cancer can safely believe the genetic test. (Begley, 8/24)