Results from a population-based study of over 20,000 women from SEER registries of Georgia and California diagnosed with stage 0 to stage III breast cancer between 2014 and 2016 tested for inherited breast cancer were recently published. Findings suggest that women who test positive for certain mutations receive certain patterns of treatment. These patterns of treatment may be less concordant with practice guidelines, particularly for radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Specifically, results from the study suggested that among women with inherited breast cancer gene mutations suggest:
– undertreatment with radiotherapy (i.e., lower use of post-lumpectomy radiotherapy in those in whom this would be indicated)
-overtreatment with chemotherapy (i.e., greater use of chemotherapy in those eligible to consider omitting this treatment (e.g., early-stage, ER/PR-positive disease))
-overtreatment with bilateral mastectomy (i.e., greater use of bilateral mastectomy in women eligible for unilateral surgery)
Check out the full article at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2760433