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@windyshores

I have relied on breastcancer.org for years. Can you share their mistaken description of the Oncotype Dx?

I am now curious. Does not having radiation after a lumpectomy change the odds of recurrence as reported by Genomic Health? What other variables are left out of the picture? For example, I had lymphovascular invasion, which is not considered, nor is type of breast cancer (ductal. lobular mixed etc. I had to be a little more skeptical of the low score I got due to grade 3 and lymphovascular invasion. If someone who theoretically needed radiation after lumpectomy., declines that treatment, it seems to me that a healthy skepticism about the low score might also be warranted. I don't really know.

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Replies to "I have relied on breastcancer.org for years. Can you share their mistaken description of the Oncotype..."

OncotyoeDX looks at just two things, (1) the recurrence if one takes adjuvant anti-hormone therapy and (2) if chemo would likely have a benefit in excess of its risks.

Obviously anything else that one might do to increase one's chances of remaining risk-free are benefits. E.g,, change in health or immune system as a result of change in diet, exercise, or stress would in theory further increase the likelihood of remaining cancer free, one hopes. But those would be exogenous variables outside of the Oncoyype focus. So, yes, people can improve their odds further but that's not the focus of the test.

They are in the process of developing other breast cancer tests, one that they hope can 'predict which Stage 0 cancers are or were likely to progress to further stages. For what it's worth, they consider Stage 0 a cancer and not, as some ponder, a kind of pre-cancer. They've seen tests on Stage 0 come back with a high risk of recurrence that doctors might have assumed would be low and might under-treat as a consequence. But none of this has all of the answers, key among them how I got the Rogue Element in the first place, as my genetics would suggest that I'd dodge that bullet. The only safe conclusion is that a low risk score is less scary than a very high one, alas.