Chemotherapy For Breast Cancer Stage 2 Side Effects

Chemotherapy for breast cancer stage 2 side effects - About half of all women with early stage breast cancer may undergo unnecessary chemotherapy. This is according to recent research published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study showed that 46% of early stage breast cancer cases classified as high risk of return by the usual evaluation method actually had a low risk of recurrence after testing with a genetic method, called the MammaPrint. Patients with high risk of return should receive chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy For Breast Cancer Stage 2 Side Effects

These results derive from a major international study called the MINDACT study and confirm the results of a 2013 study by researchers at Stellenbosch University (SU) who found it safe for those with low risk profile to avoid chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy For Breast Cancer Stage 2 Side Effects

Chemotherapy for breast cancer stage 2 side effects - "Our findings are confirmed by the MINDACT study and we can now confidently say it is important for oncologists to consider this 70-minute test with the design of patients' treatment plans," said Maritha Kotze, a professor of genetics at the US Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the National Health Laboratory Services at Tygerberg Hospital.
Related: Symptoms Of Breast Cancer in Women
The disposal of chemotherapy not only reduces the cost of treatment (chemotherapy costs more than R100 000), but patients also avoid the side effects if they do not need it for their cancer treatment.

"Chemotherapy saves the lives of people who need it, but it causes nausea, hair loss, and many other complications, so patients need not get it unnecessarily," said Dr. Kathy Grant, the main author of the 2013 MammaPrint study by the US.

The MINDACT study studied the risk of return in 6693 women with breast cancer at an early stage. The risk of return was determined by the usual method in a clinical setting (Adjuvant! Online, which calculates clinical risk based on the type, size and other characteristics of the crop), as well as the MammaPrint test (which is the genomic risk determined by means of a 70-ninth signature).

In the group of 6693 women, 1550 (23.2%) had a high clinical risk, but had a low genomic risk. The women received no chemotherapy, and after five years 94.7% of them had no return of the disease.
See also: Chemotherapy Before Surgery For Breast Cancer
Chemotherapy for breast cancer stage 2 side effects - "For women with early-stage breast cancer with a high clinical risk but low genomic risk for return, the receipt of no chemotherapy based on 70-synthesis resulted in a 5-year survival rate without deleted metastasis ( return) which was 1.5 percentage points lower than the rate of chemotherapy. Given these findings, approximately 46% of women with breast cancer are at high clinical risk, not chemotherapy, "the authors of the MINDACT study said. Only patients with early stage breast cancer (stage 1 or 2) were considered for the study.