Study: Not All Breast Cancers Need Chemo

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - New research suggests breast cancer patients
could be spared chemotherapy or get gentler versions of it without
harming their odds of beating the disease.
One study found that certain women did better if given a less
harsh drug than Adriamycin, a mainstay of treatment for decades.
Another study found that a gene test can help predict whether
some women need chemo at all - even among those whose cancer has
spread to their lymph nodes.
The findings are sure to speed the growing trend away from chemo
for many breast cancer patients and target it to a smaller group of
women who truly need it.
That's according to doctors at the San Antonio Breast Cancer
Symposium, where the studies were reported.
Breast cancer is the most common major cancer in American women.
Chemo usually is added if the disease has spread to lymph nodes.
Doctors know that chemo won't help most of these women. But they
have had no good way to tell who can safely skip its cost and
misery.
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