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Do you give chemotherapy to women with clinical features of high risk ER+ breast cancer, but a low Oncotype DX score?

Is there an age cutoff below which you would offer adjuvant chemotherapy regardless of Oncotype results? (Example: A 35 y/o woman with T2N0, ER+, sentinel node negative disease)
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In a young premenopausal female <35 years old with HR+/HER2-negative T2N0 breast cancer, would Oncotype results influence your decision to offer adjuvant chemotherapy?

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4 Answers
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Medical Oncology · Indiana University School of Medicine
Answered on

I wouldn't consider chemotherapy in this patient but some would. I will try to briefly summarize the arguments on both sides.

- Prior to oncotype, we made the decision about chemo based on anatomic risk alone. If the risk of recurrence was predicted to be 10% or greater, guidelines suggested chemoth...

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Medical Oncology · University of North Carolina
Answered on

I agree with Dr. @Dr. First Last's response for this T2N0 tumor; what gets more complicated is truly clinical high risk disease such as node-positive. While it is true that few 35 year olds were included in the trial, and estrogen sensitivity differs in pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer, it doe...

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Medical Oncology · University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Answered on

I agree with my colleagues above. Genomic tests such as the 21 gene assay appear when low risk to select for disease which has a more benign hormonally driven biology.

The fascinating question in a younger woman is whether the adjustments of the 21 gene assay based on TAILORx (chemo benefit in the 1...

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Medical Oncology · URMC
Answered on

Since she has node-negative disease, I would discuss avoiding chemo if in the low risk range. Would consider ovarian suppression as an alternative if low risk or low intermediate risk.

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