CHICAGO, Oct 11 (AFP): A widely prescribed chemotherapy drug does not work for many of the women with breast cancer for whom it is prescribed, according to a study.
The drug Taxol is typically given to women with stage II breast cancer as part of a cocktail of drugs designed to prevent a recurrence of the malignancy.
But US researchers say the drug may only be effective in women with a type of tumour known as an HER2 positive tumour, which occurs in about 20 per cent cases.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the investigators report that women with the more common estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer do not appear to benefit from Taxol, based on their analysis of previous clinical data.
The researchers say the findings are preliminary and it would be premature for doctors to withhold the drug from patients at this point.
However, if further studies confirm their observations, a simple molecular test could identify the women that would benefit from the medication, sparing others the unpleasant and possibly harmful side effects of unnecessary courses of toxic chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy may benefit few breast cancer patients
FE Team | Published: October 12, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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