Widely welcomed as another frontier in medical progress, the promise of individual medicine will become a reality thanks to advances in understanding the molecular basis of diseases such as breast cancer. Scientists can now develop treatments that correspond to individual genetic profiles and tests to predict how a patient will respond to existing treatments. Today, some women with early-stage breast cancer and their physicians may make more informed treatment decisions with the Oncotype DX Breast Cancer Assay.
This service provides quantitative information about a gene from a woman's tumors to generate a recurrence score between zero and 100, indicating that she is at high, intermediate, or low risk for her cancer after returning from treatment. Oncotype DX is targeted for node-negative, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients who are likely to be treated with hormonal therapy. About half of the 230,000 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States fall into this category. Treatment with chemotherapy is often offered, a widely used treatment with a wide range of side effects. Clinical studies show that chemotherapy improves the survival rate of only 4 out of 100 patients. Yet, thousands of women choose this expensive and toxic treatment with the only limited information to respond to it. A recent study has shown that women with high recurrence scores are more likely to benefit from chemotherapy, while women with lower scores receive minimal benefits. Moreover, only 25% of women are in the high-risk group, compared to 50% in the low-risk group,
indicating that this general treatment is not suitable for every patient. Elizabeth Sloan of New York City is one of the most likely breast cancer patients to respond to chemotherapy. An active mother with two young boys, Elizabeth thought about giving birth to another child when she was only diagnosed at the age of 40. She wanted to avoid chemotherapy, with its disruptive, short-term side effects and potentially serious long-term effects, but she also wanted to be certain that it would not help her. Elizabeth decided to test Oncotype DX with her doctor, Ruth Oratz, MD, at NYU Medical Center. She was glad when her recurrence score indicated low that she could not benefit much from chemotherapy. Two women with similar breasts can are taken as the same, and their treatment varies as well. Oncotype DX provides information that goes beyond standard measures, such as age, tumor size, and tumor grade, in determining the likelihood of disease recurrence," says Dr. Oratz. Oncotype DX may give most people peace set in their mind while not in some cases.
For Elizabeth, it gave peace st in her mind. While For Susan Bakken, it wasn’t the same, she wasn’t in her peace state with Oncotype DX. Susan's recurrence score indicated that she was at high risk of cancer recurrence and would probably benefit greatly from chemotherapy to both her surprise and her doctor. She had other tests before going for chemical therapy, so the doctor recommended not to go for chemical therapy. But I was shocked to find out my result, but I was thrilled because I believe this test saved my life," Susan said. Elizabeth Sloan is also grateful for the information she received from Oncotype DX. "So why should we treat the toxin the same way, as all cancers type vary from person to person?" She also said, “ I'm thankful for technology, the doctors, and everyone supporting me." Oncotype DX is a simple test that can only be ordered by a physician. It is performed on a small amount of breast tumor tissue removed during a breast lumpectomy, mastectomy, or biopsy, meaning no additional procedure is required.
You must be logged in to post a comment.