HI all,
just wondering if anybody has had this test done and if it routinely offered now on The NHS ? My BC information from the hospital yesterday makes mention of it. My case is stage 1, grade 3, nodes clear, ER and PR positive, Her2 negative. Just wondered if it had helped anyone to make decisions about ongoing treatment in this ‘game of figures and percentages’. I’ve just read the link to information on this site and it appears that it may not be relevant to grade 3 , and it may have to be done on breast tissue taken during surgery…am I correct?
Thanks in anticipation
Charys X
Hi Charys,
My hospital sent off for the oncotype test, I am stage 1, grade 2, ER positive, HER2 neg. It is done on the tissue removed during surgery and is sent to the USA and it took about 3 weeks for the results to come in (prob due to Easter being in the middle). My score came back as 28 but also as ER negative which the hospital found strange so they retested my hormone status and it was definately positive. Due to my score being in the intermediate range, my BC nurse thought that I would be recommended to have chemo. When I saw the oncologist 10 days later he did not recommend chemo and said that he would only have recommended it if the score had been in the high range which I think is 31 or higher. He also said that my score may have been slightly lower if the tissue they tested for hormone receptiveness had been positive (they must have had a piece of tissue with minimal/no receptors in it).
I don’t know if the test is offered at all hospitals, I am under the Royal Marsden in Sutton.
My oncologist felt that the risks of chemo outweighed the small benefit, although I wasn’t given an indication in terms of percentages of what the benefit was. If it had been recommended to have chemo I would have taken it. I think it can be a useful tool to help make such a big decision. I’m not sure if the grade of the cancer is a factor in whether the test is done or not. Hope this helps. Michelle x
They send specimen from the breast tissue removed during surgery to the lab in California where they run the test and score it. A score of 17 or below means low risk of recurrence and no benefit from chemo, up to 30 ish means borderline so the benefit is not clear and above about 33 I think means definitely chemo. It is now offered on the NHS although I think it may be a post code lottery. I am sure there are some people on the forum who have had it. My oncologist told me that BC is sometimes overtreated meaning that people have chemo when it may not make any difference and this type of test (genomic assay I think it is called) can identify more accurately a person’s individual risk of recurrence than the statistics do. Oncotype is only for er positive cancer which is node clear in premenopausal women and with a couple of affected nodes in post menopausal women. I had a different test as part of a clinical trial and it came back low so I didn’t have chemo. I had been told I could have chemo if I wanted but they didn’t recommend it and this test could help me decide. I hope this helps. Good luck with everything.
You’re welcome Charys. Waiting for results was one of the most difficult times for me as I felt I wasn’t getting on the road to recovery, I always seemed to be waiting for one result or another. But now that I am taking Tamoxifen and have my radiotherapy planning session next week, I feel that things are finally moving forward and I am feeling incredibly positive about the future. Good luck to you xx