University of Warwick: Gene test could spare thousands of breast cancer patients from unnecessary chemotherapy
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
The OPTIMA trial, coordinated for delivery and data analysis by the University of Warwick, and sponsored by University College London (UCL), followed more than 4,400 patients across the UK and internationally. Its findings, being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, could spare many NHS patients a year from unnecessary chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is regularly offered to people with early-stage breast cancer that has spread from the breast to nearby lymph nodes, as it lowers the risk of the disease returning. While effective overall, there is concern among clinicians that many people with the most common, hormone-sensitive type of breast cancer receive little or no benefit from chemotherapy but still experience its significant and sometimes dangerous side effects.
Adrienne Morgan (co-founder of Independent Cancer Patients’ Voice) knows the impact of chemotherapy on breast cancer patients first-hand; she underwent the treatment herself after a diagnosis of hormone-sensitive breast cancer before trials like OPTIMA existed. As the patient and public involvement representative working alongside the Warwick team, she said: “The OPTIMA trial was urgently needed to prevent patients being subjected to treatment, which is dangerous and distressing, and to reduce unnecessary costs in the NHS. If I had known then what I know now I am fairly sure that I would have declined chemotherapy.”
