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Subscribe to RSSA new study finds that a genetic test can help tailor care specifically to each breast cancer patient.
After a mammogram, Dorothy Warren learned she had something called DCIS -- almost breast cancer, but not quite the same.
"You're gonna tell me I have cancer and I have stage zero, and it's not real invasive cancer? I was not only fearful, but confused," Warren said.
Dr. Pamela Otto, a breast radiologist at the University of Texas, San Antonio, says DCIS consists of cancer cells that are inside the milk ducts.
Doctors cannot be sure if it will spread -- or if the patient needs to be treated with radiation or mastectomy.
Today's study, presented at a major breast cancer conference in San Antonio, finds that a genetic test called Oncotype Dx can help with decisions about how to treat these cases. It gives a score, indicating how high the risk is.
Dr. Kathy Miller, a cancer expert at Indiana University School of Medicine, calls this "huge news" for women: “It allows us to make individualized treatment decisions.”
These results are part of a big movement to try to use genetic markers to tailor the care to each patient.
Experts say only about one-quarter of DCIS patients need radiation.
"Now we can look and say what is your specific risk? Are you in the three-fourths who have a very low risk,” said Dr. William Wood, a cancer surgeon at Emory University School of Medicine.
This finding could give useful guidance for tens of thousands of women every year.
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Perhaps, with non-invasive forms of DCIS, the success of this test can lead to the development of a new treatment whereby the ducts of breast can be forced to purge and expel the cancerous cells through the nipple. That would eliminate both radiation and surgery for those cases....
DCIS is not cancer!!!. Those patients should get mammograms regularly . They do not need treatment!
I know what I am talking about. Too often the wrong treatment causes unnecessary pain.
I am a breast cancer surviver for more than twenty years. The patients should be more informed and understanding the risks instead of being scared all the time.
Edda Kramm