Irish breast cancer test sees 60% avoid chemo
Multi-gene breakthrough allows women to avoid debilitating side effects
ALMOST 60% of Irish women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer did not have to undergo chemotherapy after availing of a groundbreaking new multi-gene test, new research has found.
The findings are contained in research led by Professor Janice Walshe, Consultant Medical Oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin which was published at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas this week.
Around 500 Irish women are diagnosed with ER-positive breast cancer – the most common type of breast cancer – every year.
These patients usually have to undergo chemotherapy, followed by anti-hormonal therapy. But many patients do not benefit from chemotherapy.
According to Professor Walshe’s research, 58% of women in Ireland who underwent a multi-gene diagnostic test, called the Oncotype DX, were able to avoid undergoing chemotherapy, which can result in hair loss and sickness.
The test also resulted in savings of more than €3m to the Health Service Executive.
Commenting on the research findings, Professor Walshe told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘We cannot overestimate the impact of results such as these as we move to personalised treatment plans.
‘The avoidance of unnecessary chemotherapy is critically important due to the toxicity of many of the drugs that we use and side effects such as hair loss, sickness and predisposition to infection.
‘While the economic savings evaluated here are substantial, we believe it represents a fraction of savings as it is hard to capture the societal cost of treatment which includes factors such as days out of work, child care costs and the psychological impact of these treatments.’
The benefits of the groundbreaking Oncotype DX test were highlighted in the RxPonder trials, a major international clinical survey.
The study was conducted at 632 sites spread across nine countries, including Ireland, the others being the US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, France, Spain, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. More than 300 women took part in the RxPonder survey in Ireland, which was run by Cancer Trials Ireland.
Results from this study suggested postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer did not benefit from the addition of chemotherapy to anti-hormonal therapy.
Professor Walshe’s research, which was co-ordinated by her colleague at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dr Iseult Browne, analysed the clinical and economic impact of Oncotype DX testing on 828 Irish patients over two periods; from 2012 to 2020 and from 2021 to 2022.
Over the full period, it was found the test resulted in a 58% reduction in chemotherapy administration.
Ireland was one of the world’s first public healthcare systems to approve reimbursement of Oncotype DX testing for breast cancer patients.
‘The test also saved the HSE more than €3m’
‘More than 300 women took part in the survey’