How Precise Oncotype DX Testing Gives Your Oncologist The Best Options For Treating Your Unique Breast Cancer Disease

Posted on: 10 June 2020

It's emotionally difficult for people who receive results from a breast biopsy showing that they have breast cancer. The shock of this diagnosis may either have you reeling or praying. If you can just hang on to the strength within you, tell yourself that everyone's breast cancer is different. Innovative breast cancer treatments are advanced these days, and different treatments are tailored to treat your specific cancer diagnosis with positive results. Your oncologist will make those choices and inform you.

Team Treatment Led By Your Oncologist 

Your treatment team is led by your oncologist who will develop a customized plan that addresses the specific features of your particular breast cancer disease. Advanced technology allows specialists to choose what treatment is best for you. Advanced and state-of-the-art technology gives your specialists a number of options that eliminate treating all breast cancer sufferers with chemotherapy.

Early-Stage Cancer Treatment Choice

If your breast cancer disease is an early-stage affliction, chemotherapy treatment is no longer the only go-to treatment. Instead, Oncotype DX is the classic testing mode that will determine if you should be treated with chemotherapy.

What Is Oncotype DX Testing?

If you've been diagnosed with early-stage invasive breast cancer, Oncotype DX testing generates a score based on 21 specific genes in your unique tumor breast tissue. A sample of your breast tissue from your biopsy procedure is sent off to the Genomic Health Laboratory, and the results will predict how your tumor would respond to chemotherapy. If chemo is not right for you, based on Oncotype DX's precise testing results, your oncologist will then either choose radiation, hormonal, or another type of treatment that is best for you. The test also delivers findings of whether your cancer will return following cancer surgery. So the biology of your individual cancer is ruled by Oncotype DX's precise findings, and this is testing that no other treatment to date offers for early-stage invasive breast cancer patients.

Oncotype DX Testing Before Any Treatment

Note that your doctor will request the Oncotype DX testing before you begin any type of breast cancer treatment. This decisive rule is important because the results from Oncotype DX will be guiding the selection that your oncologist follows in treating you. The Genomic Health laboratory returns testing results between 7 to 10 days after receiving the testing request.

Precise Oncotype DX Scores

One study revealed that 99 percent of early-stage breast cancer patients, which was the majority of patients in this particular study, had low Oncotype DX scores. Their treatment was based on hormonal therapy alone, without chemotherapy, and they were indeed cancer-free after 5 years. Patients with high Oncotype DX scores only chose chemotherapy as a life-saving treatment. All of these studies clearly indicate how important it is for both you and your oncologist to rely on Oncotype DX testing results prior to any breast cancer treatments.

For further details on breast cancer treatment options, get in touch with an oncologist in your area.

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