The Breast Cancer Index (BCI) has been validated as a tool for predicting the risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women treated with hormone therapy.
Recent research put the BCI itself to the test. A team in the UK focused on evaluating the prognostic performance of the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) in determining the risk of distant recurrence (DR) for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer who participated in the TEAM trial.
The TEAM trial was significant because it examined the outcomes of using different endocrine therapy strategies in managing breast cancer. The study included over three thousand patients, classifying them into groups based on their nodal status (N0 or N1) and assessing their risk of DR over ten years using BCI.
The results showed that BCI could effectively stratify patients into different risk categories for DR, especially for those who hadn’t received chemotherapy prior.
It identified patients with low and high risks of experiencing DR within five to ten years after initial treatment, indicating significant differences in risk levels between these groups.
This stratification was further refined using optimized cut-points for BCI, leading to the identification of patients with even lower risks of late DR, suggesting that a standard duration of endocrine therapy might suffice for them.
The study underscores the importance of personalized treatment decision-making in managing HR+ breast cancer.
By identifying patients at low risk of DR, unnecessary prolonged endocrine therapy, which comes with side effects and diminished quality of life, could be avoided. Conversely, those identified at high risk could be considered for extended therapy or alternative treatments to manage their increased risk of recurrence effectively.
This detailed assessment and validation of BCI in the TEAM trial context represent a significant step forward in tailoring breast cancer treatment. It highlights BCI’s utility in providing vital prognostic information that can guide decisions on the necessity and duration of endocrine therapy in early-stage HR+ breast cancer management.
The findings advocate for the integration of genomic assays like BCI in clinical decision-making to enhance outcomes and optimize treatment strategies based on individual patient risk profiles.
