Some breast cancer patients could skip chemotherapy

A TRIAL of a new genetic tests has shown that 46 percent of breast cancer patients may not need chemotherapy if the disease is diagnosed in its early stages.

Stellenbosch University says the MINDACT trial confirmed the results of a study it published in 2013.

Breast cancer is the No 1 cancer diagnosed in women. About one in 29 women will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime. There are many different types of breast cancer and increasingly men are being diagnosed with the disease.

The MammaPrint genetic test involves removing the tumour and sending a sample to the US. It undergoes the test according to the US Food and Drug Administration regulations.

New research published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that the test results show whether patients were at low or high risk of the cancer recurring.

The MINDACT trial took five years, tracked 6 693 women with earlystage breast cancer and involved 112 treatment centres in nine European countries.

The risks of recurrence were determined using Adjuvant! Onlinea method routinely used in clinical settings and the MammaPrint test.

It showed that 46 percent of breast cancer cases classified as having a high risk for recurrence, using a conventional assessment method, in fact had a low risk of recurrence when assessed using MammaPrint.

Chemotherapy is prescribed to eradicate the cancer, but now only patients who have a high risk of recurrence have to undergo it.

Stellenbosch University spokesperson Wilma Stassen said patients continued taking medication to suppress the cancer.

Stellenbosch University director of the African Cancer Institute, Professor Vikash Sewram, said: “The MINDACT trial endorses the value of genomic profiling in patients with early breast cancer, thus providing valuable information to help treat such patients more optimally.

“However, the data needs to be viewed within context in that it did not show whether such a test can determine who needs chemotherapy in the intermediate-risk group.”

New genetic test means that only those people who have a high risk of their cancer recurring will need treatment