BRAVA on making your decision; such a steep and swift learning curve we must engage in.

ONCOTYPE will be performed on surgically removed tumor tissue referred to as foci. Mine was done on biopsy tissue.

You may need to have a radioactive needle insertion into the breast the day before surgery ( I DID). Then the surgeon traces the path of the foci to sentinel and axillary nodes. I had two positive sentinel nodes … the 5 above those ( next layer) were negative.

My ONCOTYPE numbers indicated no benefit from Chemotherapy… so I avoided that.

As I have Er/Pr + I am taking Anastrozole for 5… possibly more ( to be determined at year 5) . Fortunately I do not have any immediately obvious side effects ( in month 7) but Possibly some thinning of hair but may be anesthesia related. I do what I can to mitigate bone loss on AI . Will have a DEXA at one year to determine problems there. ( insurance only covers every two years).

Blessings on your journey. We will be here ready to support you on every step. 🌸

The OncotypeDX is done on tumor tissue that is most commonly removed during whatever surgery is done to remove the tumor. That's the safest way to remove enough tissue (from the excised cancer mass) to ensure a significant amount of representative cancer cells.

It 'can' be done on tissue sample removed by needle biopsy but there's a far greater chance of not obtaining sufficient and 'representative' tissue according to the Oncotype science guy I asked for a friend once.