Women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who have negative lymph nodes can take advantage of a test known as OncotypeDX. This test is used to estimate the risk of cancer recurrence in women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Results presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology said that the test results changed the oncologist's treatment decisions in about 31 percent of cases.

The test is useful in determining which patients are likely to benefit from chemotherapy in addition to hormonal therapy. It can predict the risk of a patient experiencing a recurrence up to ten years following diagnosis. The patient receives a Recurrence Score that ranges from 0 to 100, the higher the score -- the greater risk of recurrence.

This a great way for oncologists to be able to give individualized treatment -- instead of one size fits all. It's important to get chemotherapy if needed but physicians don't want to over-treat and have the unnecessary risk of side effects from chemotherapy treatment if it's not warranted.

The OncotypeDX test usage to guide treatment decisions among women with node-negative, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer is resulting in good outcomes according to a study reported in the journal Cancer.

The OncotypeDX test evaluates the activity of twenty one genes from a sample of the patients' cancer to determine their Recurrence Score -- the risk of a patient experiencing a recurrence ten years following diagnosis. This test gives a more individualized treatment for women with early stage breast cancer and would allow women who are unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy to avoid the toxic effects of treatment. The Recurrence Score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating a greater risk of recurrence.

Using the Recurrence Score guided approach, low-risk women would be treated with Tamoxifen alone, and intermediate and high-risk women would be treated with Tamoxifen and chemotherapy. The study results suggest that among women with early stage, ER positive breast cancer, use of the OncotypeDX test to individualize treatment decisions appears to produce good outcomes at an acceptable cost.