Guardian 4.6.18 “TARGETED APPROACH MAY AVOID CHEMOTHERAPY FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS”

1,000s of breast cancer patients currently prescribed chemotherapy can safely avoid the gruelling treatment, found a very large study called ‘Tailorx.’   An oncology consultant at  Royal Marsden Hospital said it’s the biggest advance in cancer practice for 20 years.  The long term study of women with the most common form of breast cancer found less than a third of these patients should be on chemotherapy.  Scientists at Montefiore Medical Center in New York studied 10,200 women with hormone receptive HER2-negative breast cancer, which affects 23,000 UK women a year. They will be given a hormone pill such as Tamoxifen.   Chemotherapy side-effects can be severe as they raise the long-term risk of getting heart failure & leukaemia, as well as infertility, hair loss & sickness etc.  Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.  Lead author is Dr Joseph Sparano.

Ann