Many Breast Cancer Patients Can Safely Skip Chemo, Large Trial Confirms
These results have the potential to reduce overtreatment of breast cancer—stopping patients’ unnecessary exposure to chemotherapy—in a large fraction of cases.
writer, health care advocate, physician
These results have the potential to reduce overtreatment of breast cancer—stopping patients’ unnecessary exposure to chemotherapy—in a large fraction of cases.
The potential to reduce overtreatment, in women with a low chance of recurrence for which chemo is unlikely to be of benefit, is huge.
DCIS accounts for approximately 1 in 5 breast cancer-ish diagnoses in the United States. The practical problem with DCIS is that most oncologists, surgical and medical, will admit they’re not sure what to do about it.
The statistical assault on breast cancer screening continues. JAMA Internal Medicine has published another analysis…
Ignoring non-invasive conditions like DCIS and LCIS, or telling women they’d be better off not knowing about early stage tumors, is not a smart option.
A low Oncotype DCIS score predicts a low chance that non-invasive breast cancer will recur. The study supports that many women with DCIS can safely forgo radiation.
The IBIS-1 trial shows a dramatic, reductive effect of tamoxifen in preventing breast tumors.
This new JAMA article reviews the literature. At a glance, it may add to the growing perception among journalists, primary care physicians and others – including ordinary women – that mammography’s effectiveness has been, again, disproved.
What’s great about this piece, and what’s wrong about it, is that it comes from an individual woman.