Women's Health

How Oncologists Are Changing the Way Breast Cancer Is Ranked

This method helps ensure more accurate treatment

For breast cancer, the genomic score ranges from zero to one hundred. Generally, a score over thirty one calls for a more aggressive treatment than is currently being administered.

Other results of the genomic testing allow for individualization of the treatment based on which genetic mutations are discovered. You can even tell how beneficial chemotherapy or radiation therapy will be, based on which genes are found during the test.

This is important because the current staging strategy does not take into account how efficacious chemotherapy or radiation therapy will be to the precise cancer type, which can result in extraneous treatments being given to the patient.

Reducing treatments that do not work will reduce the amount of stress patients undergo and can help their pocket book stay heavier, too.