RSCLin Reliable with Oncotype Score - Use and experiences?

Yes, sunshine5213.
My situation was primary rectal cancer. Scripps offered me somatic testing and I accepted. There was a delay on the results because they forgot to send the biopsy material. I had trouble finding a proton center that would treat me without chemotherapy. So I traveled around the country. I finally found a doctor. Dr Giap. After my treatment ended I received the somatic chart with a grid indicating that for each of my tumor's mutations there were no chemotherapeutic medications that would be successful against them. I was to have a port, iv infusions and an oral medication, all of which would have had unnecessary consequences.
Aftercare is another important self-advocacy test. I could never understand why people with cancer would die of brain metastasis many years after the "five year cure." No aftercare. I have to beg for testing.
Good wishes, sunshine,

I must ask what is a RSCl test? My cancer was also considered “early stage” & my medical center does not do cancer markers for such! I had 1 positive lymph node…so cancer is potentially running around in my body looking for a new home! How should I be monitored? Just wait until cancer rears its ugly face again?

That's too bad they won't do the Oncotype score for you even being early stage. Hope you plan to have 5 days of radiation for the lymph nodes at least. The RSClin is an additional calculator developed by the same company that created the Oncotype score, which is standard of care now for about 20 years. The RSClin is for provider use only, so we can't access it. After getting a Onctotype score, the provider uses RSClin to further add your age, tumor size, and grade to identify your risk of reoccurance. If your provider wouldn't do an Oncotype, than the RSClin would not be available to you either. The company that developed these tools is Science Direct, the same folks who developed Cologuard. Quite a progressive company.

I'm just about to start by 5 days of radiation, then I'm done, and will start AIs as I'm menopausal, then it will be surveillance. You will need to push to have contrast mammographys or Breast MRIs.....just keep reading and advocating for yourself. I hope you had further treatment like radiation for your nodes. In my case, they wouldn't test my nodes because imaging showed them clear, and given I had a lumpectomy, they told me the radiation would catch any floater cells in the area or nodes....While I can appreciate 'less is best' with invasive procedures, like node biopsy, I would have liked to at least have had an MRI on my nodes but didn't have time to do so before surgery.

If you can, I would strongly encourage you to look into alternative testing options. My MO told me about a new test called Ataraxis Breast that apparently is over 50% more accurate than Oncotype and even more accurate than RSClin. Oncotype has been a standard of care for 20 years but it also means that the technology used to develop it is very outdated... especially if you are younger, or if you have Oncotype scores that are not clearly low or clearly high. And RSClin is confusing too because it can contradict Oncotype results and it has not been validated as much as Oncotype itself. Ataraxis test already has the clinical and tumor biology data taken into consideration. The only problem is that it is so new it hasn't been yet recognized by guidelines but if you have a progressive MO they should be able to get this result to you.

Smileykoala, you have piqued my interest with Ataraxis Breast. I'd really like to know more about recurrence possibilities (I have had Oncotype done) and neither Ataraxis nor RSCLin were ever mentioned to me. How would you go about enquiring about these if you were me? I'm sure my oncologist is tired of me pushing her to the cutting edge of things, but I would love to know everything that's knowable. If that makes sense.

i had 4 mm invasive dusctal carcinoma (IDC) and 6.5 cm ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS); both in right breast and both ER+, HER2-. I had a SMX and 3 lymph nodes removed. Lymph nodes were all negative and i had clear margins. So no radition and no chemo, but 5-10 years hormone suppression meds. My oncologist would not do the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score Test (for people with early stage estrogen +, HER2- invasive breast cancer) or The Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score Test (for people diagnosed with DCIS). i want it done to understand the characteristics of the cells (agressive or not) but i have asked twice and she just says there is no benefit to doing it since i would not give you chemo anyways. Very frustrating!

I too keep asking all my doctors about how do I know if my cancer came back, they all told me the same thing: unexpected weight loss, pain, etc.. They all act like there aren't these tests out there. I had the oncotype test which was a 5, so no chemo, had a double mastectomy and radiation. I'm just wondering why no one mentioned the Signaterna blood test and now this Ataraxis test to me.

Hi just wondering is you were treated at MSK? Will you have partial or whole radiation?

I had my bilateral mastectomy at MSK. The oncotype testing was done without my asking for it. It indicated chemo not indicated for me & no radiation. Only the AI x 5 years. My score was under 25.
The Signaterna nor the Ataraxis tests were never mentioned to me.
So surprising to me was their policy of NO cancer blood markers are done in what is considered "early stage breast cancer". What?? This is simply a blood test...
I had 1 positive lymph node and we all know it only takes one to have a re-occurrence.
I will see my breast oncologist next month. I will ask her the question we are all asking "how will I know, what testing will be done, to determine if my cancer has re-occurred?" MD Anderson in TX is #1 for cancer treatment - MSK in NY is #2. So it certainly seems I am in the best facility for my cancer treatment, right??

For those intetested, here isthe link for precise information on the Signaterna test:
https://www.natera.com/