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Concerned about the side effects of anastrozole

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jul 28 9:25am | Replies (1934)

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@lcr2017

I will be going for my 5 year evaluation (since surgery and beginning treatment) and I understand that when we have our discussions here, it’s anecdotal information with helpful links. But it’s also been very helpful in that I am starting to prepare my questions for my evaluation and I am not quite confident about what my oncologist will advise and we are assuming that my exams and MRI will all be clear.

What did strike me in our discussions here, was all the info about the OncotypeDX. It prompted me to look at my score because for me, emphasis was placed on one score that determined that I would not benefit from chemo at my early stage. However, I looked at my other score/percentage for recurrence and it was much higher than others here who had my same number and talked about it here. (For example, if someone also had an 8, their recurrence was 3-4%.)
So some of my questions, if they aren’t addressed already by the oncologist, will have to do with that number, my tumor grade, and the bilateral cancer.
I appreciate that we can share, hopefully make us think, ask questions, and advocate, but not necessarily panic.
Will keep you posted! 🤞🏻

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Replies to "I will be going for my 5 year evaluation (since surgery and beginning treatment) and I..."

I think you're confusing the OncotypeDX results. The Recurrence Score is a trademarked name for some elements of the results from the algorithm Oncotype uses for the test that suggests the Risk of loco-regional Recurrence within 9 years if the person whose tissue was tested takes tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. I had several conversations with Oncotype after getting my result and it's my understanding that one cannot infer much from the Recurrence Score directly except that lower is better. And the Risk score is derived from it.

Oncotype's customer service is excellent and a call to them could help understand what the test can imply and what is outside the scope of the testing parameters.

I had a score of 8 and risk of 10 year recurrence was 6% with tamoxifen only. I assume my risk was close to 12% without meds. (At the 5 year point, the Breast Cancer Index test indicated no further benefit from my AI. Risk of late recurrence 5.7%).
ps I was either grade 2 or 3 and not sure how that affects risk score. I thought everyone with a score of 8 would have the same risk but @callalloo has the same score but lower risk at 3%.