A new type of test to diagnose breast cancers and may prevent some women who need chemotherapy, is highly reliable, according to Swiss scientists.

An accurate diagnosis at an earlier stage could avoid chemotherapy.

Currently, the core biopsy is a fairly common practice to take samples of breast tissue in suspected there may be the presence of cancer cells, so that they can be examined under a microscope.

Observe the genetic patterns of the samples can help to discover the need for some type of more intensive treatment for cancer, but so far the accuracy of this test was limited.

However, the study conducted in Switzerland and published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, points out that the result is reliable.

The team of researchers from University Hospital Basel found that the gene expression profile in the samples made with thick needle biopsies were done with an accurate picture of the type of cancer that were facing, despite taking some small tissue sections of tumor.

The information can be used to determine which cancers are aggressive and therefore need more intensive treatment, including chemotherapy after tumor surgery, and which have little chance of returning after being removed surgically.

Less invasive

The study could help in diagnosis and treatment of those affected.

The study presented by Swiss scientists also suggests it might be better to obtain tissue samples for later genetic analysis using core needle biopsy that the removal of a sample through surgery.

Not only does this type of less invasive method, but also the researchers point out that apparently gives a clearer indication of the patterns of genes present in the sample.

Research indicates that needle biopsy revealed it to be an expression of the genes involved in wound healing, in addition to the present in the tumor itself and in its spread.

In the latest study, conducted in 22 women affected, the specific expression of four known genes are involved in the development of breast cancer significantly increased surgical tests taken through that core needle biopsies.

In comparison, the expression of these four genes we increased the women who did not undergo the core biopsy before.

This means that each sample is obtained after surgery will present a profile of altered gene expression.

According to Swiss researchers, the information presented in this study is very important for doctors and help them to appreciate more accurately the aggressiveness of a tumor at diagnosis, making it easier to determine the necessary treatment and possible outcomes .

“A great help”

Dr Rosana Zanetti-Dallenbach and his colleagues at University Hospital in Besel warned that the profiles of altered genes in the samples obtained through surgery after a core biopsy might influence doctors’ diagnosis.
This interesting study could mean greater accuracy when predicting how it will respond to treatment a person affected by breast cancer and what the potential risk to their reappearance
Maria Leadbeater, of Breast Cancer Care

According to the researchers, the core biopsy provided a truer picture, more representative and cleaner.

Professor Karol Sikora, an oncologist at Imperial College Medicine UK, said: “The analysis of gene expression will likely talk about the natural history of disease, if it is going to be aggressive or not allowing you to establish a tailored treatment. ”

“This is a relatively new technique and how difficult is that you need a validation. Still does not possess sufficient information quantity, so in that sense, this study is a great help,” he said.

For its part, Maria Leadbeater, of the aid organization Breast Cancer Care said: “This interesting study could mean greater accuracy in predicting how it will respond to treatment a person affected by breast cancer and what the potential risk to reappearance. ”

Anyway, this is a small study so that more work is needed to investigate whether this way of collecting samples through core biopsy, could change the way breast cancer is currently diagnosed and treaty, “he said.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 6:08 am and is filed under Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.