Test to determine suitability of chemotherapy now available in Ireland
Chemotherapy is such a crude blunderbus of an instrument, that to see us moving closer to more targeted and personalised cancer treatment is hugely encouraging. One way in which we are moving one step forward in this advance is with the wider availability of the new Oncotype DX test.
The Oncotype DX test is a genomic test which determines if a patient is better suited to anti-hormonal therapy than chemotherapy. It predicts the patient’s likely benefit from chemotherapy as well as their likelihood of breast cancer recurrence.
The test is already in use in the US, Germany and the UK, but was formerly available in Ireland only as part of a clinical trial that took place between 2007 and August 2010. The test is applicable only to those who have early-stage breast cancer.
Oh how I wish this test was available to me when I had to make my own decision regarding chemotherapy back in 2004. The hardest part of my diagnosis (DCIS, early stage breast cancer and no lymph node involvement) was trying to make this decision. My oncologist told me that he couldn’t say for sure whether I needed chemo or not, and as I feared the impact it would have on my fertility, it was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life. In fact right up to the day before treatment was due to start – a week before Christmas 2004, I was unsure whether to go through with it or not. While I was busy regretting that this test wasn’t available 6 years ago in time for me, I thought of the story I posted recently of Evelyn Vaden, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1950, and how far we have come since then. There will always be advances and that is a wonderful thing, but of course what we are all really hoping for is a cure, an end to this disease.
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Source of Report: Irish Times
Video Report: NBC/Ohio Health Columbus
It is great to see advances such as this which will spare some women the horror of chemotherapy
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Thanks for posting. I had read about this test but didn’t know it was now available in Ireland. Like you, it is too late for my treatment, and how I wish I could have been spared chemotherapy too!
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Wow, I wish I would have been told about this test before I had chemo. I wonder if it would have changed my outcome since I am on an antihormonal drug. Guess I will never know. For all of the advancements that have been made looks like we are still considered pioneers in medicine.
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Guess you are right Luann – it is hard not to feel frustrated – but as you say, we will never know now…
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Marie,
I was familiar with the Oncotype DX test followimg my diagnosis and was all set to have it, but as it turned out I did have lymph node involvement, (which surprised all the doctors for some reason) so I needed chemo anyway. The day I learnded I needed chemo was one the worst days of my life. I wish you could have had this test back in 2004, but we can’t look back and change unchangeable things. We have come a long way and I tried to focus on that yesterday when I had more surgery. I am so happy to hear this test is now available in Ireland. I think it will help many women figure out what to do. Thanks for sharing this important info, Marie.
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And thank you Nancy for taking the time to make this comment. It’s so true – we can’t look back and change unchangeable things.
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I was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and had the Oncotype DX Test. Unfortunately, it is still early in it’s development and there is a very large range of intermediate results with no clear data to indicate whether chemo will help these women, like me. I was fortunate to be able to enroll in a study to help figure out if chemo will help that intermediate range and was randomized into the chemo group. I am thankful that I can help women in the future with this decision.
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Hi Debbie – welcome to the JBBC blog and thank you so much for sharing your experience with us – it is great to hear from someone who has undergone the test. Wishing you well in your recovery.
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Wish they would have had this test 18 years ago. My mom was diagnosed in 1985 and was operated on her birthday-they did a lumpectomy and she was in remission for awhile -she underwent chemotherapy and radiation. Then the cancer came back and it spread into her bones and then her liver. I wish all the women out there with this horrible disease allotta luck and thank God for all the new breakthroughs.
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Hi Donna – thanks so much for sharing your Mom’s story with us and so sorry to hear about her outcome. It is a tough disease but hopefully we are moving closer to more targetted treatment and eventually a cure.
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I wish I would have paid more attention to the Breast Cancer treatments before I was diagnosed. Luckily mine was caught early, but I might have made different choices if I would have had the knowledge I have now.
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Hi Terri – welcome to the blog and thanks for your comment. I think we all could probably say the same thing about the choices we would have made. The problem is that for many of us, breast cancer was the last thing on our minds, right up to the day of our diagnosis!
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I had the oncotype test in 3/07 and had a score of 13, so didn’t have chemo. I am hoping to have a lot more years on this earth. Blessings to all.
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Marsha, I am delighted this test was available to you and that you were spared the rigours of chemotherapy. May you continue to survive and thrive beyond breast cancer.
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