Test Shows Who Needs Chemo for Breast Cancer

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new genetic test can tell doctors which breast cancer patients need to undergo the discomfort of chemotherapy -- and suggests many women don't need to, researchers said on Friday.

Almost half of U.S. women diagnosed with a specific form of breast cancer -- estrogen-dependent cancer that has not yet spread -- can skip the chemo, the results suggest. That means about 25,000, mostly older women a year, according to the National Cancer Institute, which helped sponsor the study.

"The test has the potential to change medical practice by sparing thousands of women each year from the harmful short- and long-term side effects associated with chemotherapy," said Dr. JoAnne Zujewski of the NCI's Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program.

The study results, released early by the New England Journal of Medicine and also at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, are based on a study of gene activity in the breast cancer tumors.

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