Breast Cancer: A Genetic Test Could Predict Relapse
It might predict the risk of relapse in five or ten years.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the green light to a new genetic test for women with breast cancer detected at an early stage.
Mamma Print may predict the risk of relapse in five or ten years and affect treatment. Produced by the Dutch pharmaceutical company Agendia, this test is not the first of its kind in the U.S. market, but it is the first to be approved by the U.S. food and drug control the manufacturer's website states.
This test is not a miracle product, says Dr. Steven Gutman, FDA. Indeed, it is more effective to detect patients who are less likely to develop metastases, said he. Thus, when the Mamma Print predicts a woman has a high risk of relapse, it will be true in 25% of cases, against 95% for a patient with low risk.
"This information should be used with great care by doctors," he says. "This is a complex test. It should be used by people who know how to use it. "
The disease should be diagnosed in more than 178,000 Americans this year. More than 100,000 are at an early stage with a good prognosis. In this case, the tumors are small, have not extended to the lymph nodes and are sensitive to hormones.
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