OncoDx Score

[Katie2u]

My onco score came back 30.  I was very upset about this and feel like it's not "if" the cancer shows up elsewhere, it is "when".   I had a 1.1 cm of IDC, negative nodes, Grade 3, poorly differentiated, no lymphatic invasion.   I am going to take chemo x4 doses followed by Arimidex,  had a bilateral mastectomy and will have a hysterectomy/oopherectomy.  I know that most do not come back this high and I'm wondering if the 20% chance of reoccurrence with tamoxifen alone is accurate enough.  Seems like it would be a higher chance of reoccurrence with such a high score.  The chemo is supposed to reduce my risk to 12%.   According to the website the results can be 1-100 however the "average" score of the high risk group is 31.  Any comments?   Thanks!


This discussion is related to Dx testing.

[dblwhammy]

My oncotype DX score was nearly that high, 27 and it threw me into panic mode. I was feeling pretty good about just having to take Arimidex until my oncologist suggested the oncotype testing. I also had very small lesion, 1.2 cm, in only one breast, negative sentinel nodes and had bilateral mastectomies, I was told my chance of recurrence without chemo was close to 20% so I toughed it out with 4 cycles of Taxotere and Cytoxan. Finished in mid March and am on Arimidex now. Not fun but doable. Hang in there and you'll be finished before you know it.
I'm not sure how the average high risk range is computed. I wonder if they ever get results above 40 or 50? What would that score portend?

[japdip]

An Oncotype DX score of 30 is merely in the intermediate range of recurrence. I means there is a chance but you are certainly NOT in the group of high risk for recurrence. I certainly wouldn't think of it as "when" .... the scores range from 0 to 100 so a 30 isn't all that bad.

[LizinKS]

I also had a score of 30, and I'm really angry!!! I wonder if age plays a factor in helping women decide? The medical advisor at Genomic Health told me that it was not uncommon for women like me- in their 60s with borderline scores- to opt out of chemo. My cancer was somewhat smaller than those above (less than 1 cm) with clear margins , node negative,and was grade 2, with negative Herceptin Neu2, and no BRCA genes. I had a wide excision lumpectomy, radiation and am taking Arimidex.  The possibility of permanent side effects of chemo, such as neuropathy and heart damage are also frightening to me in that the quality of my life would be impaired even beyond the usual maladies of aging, even if cancer never recurred.  Like the women above, I was really upset by this test and felt a sense of doom and I am angry about it! I chose not to do chemo, feeling my health and quality of life in the possible 20 or so years of life I might have remaining, would be compromised by the toxicity of systemic treatment! I had a very positive outlook that has been severely impacted by this test! You're damned if you do and damned if you don't with these gray area scores. If I were younger, with children still at home, or had a clearly high score, I wouldn't hesitate.  This test, though I think there is some validity, is still in the testing stage, especially with the intermediate scores. My other doctors (surgeon and radiation onco.) were non-commital about it. God bless those of you who chose to do chemo. It must be an intense journey through that. It's a tough decision either way, and you have to do what is the right choice for you. A person on another Web site declined chemo, because her chances improved only 3 % with chemo, and there was a 4% chance of heart damage. It's like the sword of Damocles hanging over your head, whether it's 12% or 20%. I have completed radiation and am on Arimidex. I am willing to take my chances that I will be part of the 80-82% of women with my score of 30, who remain recurrence-free. That's four out of five of the women in these groups-and those statistics were before aromatase inhibitors! I wish I had never agreed to this test!!!!!
LizinKS