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Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: May 12, 2023 | Replies (1190)Comment receiving replies
I didn't imply that you were making anything up. If you got that impression, it is regrettable but it most assuredly wasn't intended. All I know is what I was told by Exact Science last year.
When I was making treatment decisions in the fall of 2021, and trying to understand the statistics behind some of the numbers showing up in research papers, I did question the Oncotype people a lot to make sure I really understood what I could infer from my test result. [I also wanted to know what I could not infer from it, e.g., recurrence v. "spread."]
As we know making sense of a lot of the stuff gets tricky because of the nature of the statistics from which the algorithm derives information. And there are varying usages of the word recurrence as well to make things even more confusing. I feel such compassion for people with a first cancer diagnosis and entering a strange world where even the language is hard to understand while still having to be the best medical advocate for oneself possible.
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It is accurate for me to write that Genomic Health told me that 30% of grade 3's had low Oncotype scores. It is NOT accurate for me to write that 30% of grade3's have low Oncotype scores, since I have only been told that, and I have no proof. I am careful in how I write things.
I perused studies last night and cannot find one that supports that statistic, though I did find one that had 15%. In general, though I found that correlation between grade 1 and Oncotype was strong (and some grade 1's may not even need an Oncotype, according to one recent study, if the tumor was less then 1cm), and the correlation between grade 3 and Oncotype score was weak. I think I understand that, but will check with a doc.
I think the main point is that traditional pathology, which is used in cancermath and other online calculators, and used to be used in treatment decisions, is no longer the sole criterion. Oncotype and other genomic studies have enhanced and in cases like mine even replaced traditional pathology in guiding treatment. Many women are avoiding chemo for their early cancers as a result- including me. But that of course depends on me doing the 5 years of hormonal therapy- which I did.