What is MammaPrint®?
Breast cancer is different in each patient and therefore physicians strive to set up a treatment plan that is tailored to each patient’s individual situation. In most cases, surgical removal of the tumor is a critical step in the treatment of breast cancer. The next step can be additional therapy to minimise the chance of any remaining tumor spreading (metastasising). In many cases it is very difficult to determine whether an individual patient has a high or low risk that her cancer wil spread to other sites. MammaPrint® is a test that provides a physician with additional information to assess the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Interpreting The Results
MammaPrint® test results indicate either a ‘high risk’ or a ‘low risk’ of cancerous spread. 'High risk' indicates a chance of 50% that you will experience metastasis (re-growth of the tumor) within 10 years. With current treatment methods, patients in this category have a 10-year survival rate of 50%. 'Low risk' means your chance of developing metastasis within 10 years is 10-15%. The 10-year survival rate of women in this group is currently 97%.
Your physician will inform you of the test results.
What Is Genomic Profiling?
Physicianss and scientists now regard cancer as a 'disease of the genes' and this is where MammaPrint is able to provide you and your Physician previously unavailable information that can be used to predict the future behavior of the tumor. This information assists your Physician in determining what treatment is necessary to give you the best outcome posssible. This is done by analysisng the DNA of the breast tumour with MammaPrint.
Our MammaPrint® genomic profiling test determines:
- The risk of tumor spreading
- The risk of the breast cancer returning.
- Longterm prognosis