Study: Many early-stage breast cancer patients can safely skip chemo

One of the big questions facing women diagnosed with early-stage breast can- cer is whether to be treated with chemotherapy to reduce their risks that the cancer will return. A new study presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology provides much-needed clarity: Most of these women can safely skip chemo.

While chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer has been declining, physicians said the latest research findings will have a major impact by either giving patients more confidence in their decisions or encouraging them to take a different treatment approach. There are some important nuances, however. Here's a rundown:

The decade-long study, called TAILORx, involved the most common type of breast cancer – one that is driven by hormones, has not spread to the lymph nodes and does not contain a protein called HER2. Previously, the same study had shown that women with a low risk of recurrence can avoid chemo, and other studies had shown that those with a high risk of recurrence should receive it.

So the biggest unanswered questions involved women in the intermediate-risk category: Did chemo reduce their chance of recurrence? Or was it sufficient for them to be treated only with endocrine therapy, which blocks the cancer-spurring properties of hormones?

After years of waiting, doctors and patients finally got the answer.

Women older than 50 with a midrange risk – defined in the study as a score of 11 to 25 on a tumor test – can skip chemo and just have endocrine therapy.