Together with their doctors, women with early stage breast cancer that is estrogen receptor positive and lymph node negative must make the important decision of whether to include chemotherapy in their treatment plan. Determining the benefits of chemotherapy in an individual case can be informed by gene expression profiling (GEP). 

This fact sheet reports findings from a new patient survey on how women’s decisions about their breast cancer treatment are influenced by GEP technology. GEP can help determine a patient’s risk of the recurrence of breast cancer. Assessing the recurrence risk can then help guide the decision of whether to include chemotherapy in the treatment plan — i.e., a low recurrence risk suggests that chemotherapy may add no value, whereas chemotherapy should be part of the treatment plan for a high-risk patient. whether she is at high or low risk for cancer recurrence, pointing to the need for better communication between doctors and patients about genomic test results. 

The Empowering Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment study was led by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in collaboration with Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Aetna. Voluntary participants in the survey were Aetna health plan members, female, and less than 65 years of age. All had received the GEP test during breast cancer treatment between 2009 and 2012.