Knowing which cancer treatment is best

MANILA, Philippines – Do you personally know someone who has breast cancer and has undergone chemotherapy?  Have you seen them suffer through its ravaging side effects?  Have you ever wondered if there are gentler treatment options?  Finally, the country’s prime innovator in medical testing, Hi-Precision Diagnostics, has made EndoPredict available in the Philippines.  EndoPredict is a multi-gene test for breast cancer patients that determines whether a given patient can solely rely on anti-hormonal therapy treatment or needs chemotherapy.  It is particularly used when it cannot be clearly decided which treatments are appropriate for a patient based on established information.  The test also provides additional information to complement used prognostic factors.

The main advantages of EndoPredict are that the test can prevent unnecessary chemotherapy in up to 50 percent of patients.  What does this mean?  It means that EndoPredict is part of the second generation of cancer tests that have outperformed those that simply provide risk parameters. The development of these new genomic tests for breast cancer has answered the need for the classification of breast cancers to shift from the traditional descriptive “grade” classifications to genomic tests that predict the tumor capacity for “cell proliferation.”

Following surgery to remove the tumor in breast cancer cases, oncologists need to make decisions concerning the next most appropriate treatment options. Underpinning this decision is the ability to forecast the likelihood of the cancer recurring and/or forming metastases. The traditional “grade” classifications are no longer sufficient on their own to fully inform this process. The latest genomic tests, such as EndoPredict, combined with traditional pathology, provide a far more accurate assessment. 

Breast cancer expert, Dr. Simon March, in his article published in the totalhealth.uk website, Why do patients with breast cancer need gene testing, describes this latest molecular approach to classifying breast cancers, and why this personalized medicine is good news for women. He says, “This classification not only involves the estrogen and progesterone receptors but also the sensitivity of a cancer to drug treatments. This is a proliferation index that indicates how fast a cancer is growing and is more sensitive than the “grade” that is often still given.

EndoPredict determines whether cancer patients are low or higher risk, and which ones can be safely treated with endocrine therapy alone, doing away altogether with chemotherapy.  EndoPredict also accurately predicts metastatic potential up to 10 years from diagnosis. 

With EndoPredict now available in the country via Hi-Precision Diagnostics, women in the Philippines are now armed with breast cancer treatment options and empowered to make better-informed choices about treatment.  The best thing about this is patient tissue samples no longer have to be transported to a specialist laboratory in the US, improving turnaround time.

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For more information on EndoPredict, visit the Hi-Precision Diagnostics website at www.hi-precision.com.ph or call 741-7777 or 09228906664.