Yale doctor: Breast cancer test helps determine who will benefit from long-term therapy

"Women with a common form of breast cancer can receive better advice about whether to undergo long-term therapy because of a new genetic test, according to a Yale School of Medicine doctor.

Dr. Tara Sanft, medical director of the survivorship program at the Yale Cancer Center and a breast cancer oncologist, said the test helps to predict who will benefit by undergoing anti-estrogen therapy for more than the standard five years.

The cancers are known as estrogen receptor positive, which account for about two-thirds of all breast cancers in women, Sanft said.

“The question is, can the Breast Cancer Index test help identify women at the highest risk so that we may treat them and spare the others?” she said after returning from a breast cancer symposium in San Antonio, Texas, where she gave a presentation on the topic."

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Peter Hvizdak - New Haven Register