How Oncologists Are Changing the Way Breast Cancer Is Ranked
This new test score provides accuracy all around
Sometimes the Oncotype DX score is more favorable than the old TNM method. This has resulted in women being moved down a stage, letting them receive less harsh treatment. The treatment will also be more effective as well, a double whammy for the fight against cancer.
Even the women who have not seen their cancer move a stage can appreciate the more targeted treatment that the testing allows.
An Oncotype DX score that lifts a cancer into a higher stage is also a good thing, because this means that the doctors will be able to catch aggressive cancers in their patients before they sneakily hit Stage IV, at which point the outcome becomes bleak.
However, the new guidelines have not yet been universally adopted. And even doctors who have adopted the new guidelines have not, generally, re-diagnosed their patients.
Dr. Rishi Sawhney hopes that the new guidelines will become widely adopted, not just in the United States but across the world as well. He believes that this will only help patients. “We’ll be more cutting edge,” he said.
