Seven in 10 women with early breast cancer do not need chemotherapy, study finds

Most women with early stage hormone receptor positive breast cancer do not benefit from chemotherapy on top of endocrine therapy after surgery if tests show they have a mid-range risk of recurrence, a large randomised trial has reported.1

“Half of all breast cancers are hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative, and axillary node negative. Our study shows that chemotherapy may be avoided in about 70% of these women when its use is guided by the 21 gene recurrence score, so limiting chemotherapy to the 30% who we …