Breast cancer recurrence new Oncotype treatment? - 1264266

nabs123
Posts:3

My mum has started her first chemo treatment today she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 and after having chemo a mastectomy and radiation therapy the cancer has recurred.

After visiting the oncologist today he told us about a procedure which they have done and this is called "Oncotype" basically the results from the biopsy are sent overseas somewhere and they work out what type of chemo treatment the patient would need and would work based on the biopsy results.

I have never heard of this before and wanted to know if anyone knows or heard about this and if they could help me with more information? I live in South Africa and I am desperately looking for answers. Please help.

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Reply # - June 9, 2014, 06:15 AM

JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi nabs123,

I am sorry to hear of your mum's recurrence. GRACE faculty member Dr. Cianfrocca has written about Oncotype, stating:

"Oncotype DX is known as a genomic assay which just means that it looks at groups of genes and how active they are in an individual cancer. These genes can influence how a cancer grows and spreads to other parts of the body as well as how likely it is to respond to various treatments including chemotherapy...Oncotype DX testing is included in the current American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) treatment guidelines for ER-positive, HER2-negative, lymph node-negative breast cancer." - http://cancergrace.org/breast-cancer/2011/10/09/oncotype-dx-tumor-gene-…

I hope that her treatment is effective and that she tolerates it well.

JimC
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Reply # - June 9, 2014, 08:25 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

Yes, Oncotype doesn't tell what chemo to use, but it is a very established test for helping to clarify whether the cancer has sufficient risk after surgery to justify surgery, and also helps to predict the extent of benefit from chemotherapy. However, it doesn't specifically suggest the chemotherapy regimen to use.

Good luck.
-Dr. West

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