NBCC LEADCast on Comparative Effectiveness Feb. 11

Reminder to ProjectLEAD grads, don't forget to sign up for NBCC's upcoming LEADcast on Comparative Effectiveness research.

National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund:

Breast cancer multigene test helping patients avoid chemotherapy

Research continues to show the benefits of Genomic Health's Oncotype DX test for newly diagnosed breast cancer. The test, used for estrogen receptor positive cancers, examines a sample from the breast cancer tumor, anlyzing 21 genes to develop a score calculating the patient's individual risk of recurrence. Low scores indicate breast cancer isn't likely to recur while higher scores indicate greater likelihood. The score allows oncologists and patients to personalize a treatment plan, forgoing chemotherapy if risk is low and vice versa.

The latest study showed the test allowed a significant number of patients to choose hormone therapy alone instead of chemotherapy combined with hormone therapy.

Breast cancer multigene test helping patients avoid chemotherapy