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1. Do I need chemotherapy?
2. What are the benefits of chemotherapy?
3. Making decisions
1. Do I need chemotherapy?
If you have primary breast cancer, whether you’re offered chemotherapy depends on factors such as:
- The size of your breast cancer
- Whether the lymph nodes are affected
- The grade of your cancer (how different your cancer cells are from normal breast cells and how quickly the cancer cells are growing)
- The oestrogen receptor and HER2 status
Our information on pathology results explain these in more detail.
Your general health and any other medical conditions you have will also be considered.
2. What are the benefits of chemotherapy?
The benefit of chemotherapy might be clear for some people but less clear in other cases. Your specialist may use an online program to help estimate the benefit you might expect to get from chemotherapy. They may be able to show you a graph of this information or explain the benefit as a percentage.
Genomic assays
When the benefit of chemotherapy is less certain, your treatment team may suggest a test called a genomic assay. You may hear it called gene expression profiling or gene assays.
These tests look at groups of genes found in the breast cancer. They help identify who is most likely to benefit from chemotherapy and how likely the cancer is to return (recurrence).
The tests are carried out on breast tissue removed during surgery, usually in a laboratory away from your hospital. Genomic assays are not suitable for everyone and sometimes do not provide a clear answer.
If any of these tests are suitable for you, your treatment team will discuss this with you.
Genomic assays which may be offered are:
EndoPredict
EndoPredict is a test that predicts how likely breast cancer is to spread to somewhere in the body within 10 years in people who will be taking hormone therapy for at least five years.
Oncotype DX
Oncotype DX is a test that predicts how likely breast cancer is to come back after surgery and the likely benefit of having chemotherapy.
The test gives a score between 0 and 100, and people who score above a certain number are more likely to be offered chemotherapy.
Prosigna
Prosigna is a test that predicts how likely breast cancer is to spread to somewhere in the body within 10 years in people who will be taking hormone therapy for at least five years.
3. Making decisions
You may be asked to decide if you want to have chemotherapy and making this decision is a personal one. You’ll need to weigh up the likely benefits against the potential side effects.
You can talk it through with your treatment team, who can answer your questions and support you with your decision.
You can also call us on 0808 800 6000 to talk about your options or to be put in touch with our Someone Like Me service, where you can speak to someone who has faced a similar decision.