30. 04. 2019 | Back to news overview

Results from the Czech OncotypeDX registry of patients with OncotypeDX Breast Recurrence Score results show up to 78% chemotherapy reduction

Adjuvant chemotherapy is not beneficial to every patient with early stage breast cancer with expressing hormone receptors. The 21-gene Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score® assay is designed to aid and personalize chemotherapy treatment decisions for HR+, HER2- early stage breast cancer patients. Multiple studies demonstrated its prognostic validity and most importantly predictive value for chemotherapy benefit and its clinical utility.

In this Oncotype DX® patient registry, held by Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Brno they assessed the impact of the Recurrence Score result on the frequency of chemotherapy use in these patients in Czech medical centers from June 2014 to May 2018. 

The registry recruited 433 consecutive patients at 14 centers in Czech Republic. Prior to Recurrence Score testing, 71.9% patients had recommendations of chemotherapy plus hormonal therapy and this proportion declined to 25.5% after availability of the Recurrence Score result. 58.9% of all patients had their recommendation changed from chemo-endocrine therapy to hormonal therapy alone, while 2.6% were changed from hormonal therapy alone  to chemo-endocrine therapy. This resulted in an overall 78% chemotherapy reduction for these patients. 


These findings indicate a significant potential for overtreatment with chemotherapy based on clinical pathological parameters alone that can be prevented with the results of the Oncotype DX assay.

The majority of the physicians agreed (55.7%) or strongly agreed (38.3%) that the OncotypeDX Recurrence Score result impacted their treatment recommendation.

The results of this decision impact study were presented in poster sesion on this year´s St. Gallen international breast cancer congress and provide important data for Czech clinical practice.