Magee First in Tri-State Region Offering Test to Predict Possibility of Breast Cancer Recurrence

11/5/2014

Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC is the first hospital in the tri-state region to offer the only FDA-cleared breast cancer test assessing a woman’s risk of cancer recurrence by providing a risk category and numerical score.

The Prosigna test assesses a woman’s probability of her breast cancer recurring over a 10-year period, and can help a patient and her oncologist make more informed treatment decisions when used in conjunction with other clinical and pathological assessments. Currently, the test is designed for post-menopausal women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer.

“Our understanding of how to diagnose and treat different types of breast cancers has grown exponentially in the last two decades,” said David Dabbs, M.D., chief of pathology at Magee. “This test offers our oncology team and their patients another step toward personalized medicine and we are proud to be able to offer it to patients who come to Magee, to aid in their understanding of their disease and short and long-term treatment decision making.”

Based on the PAM50 gene signature, the Prosigna assay categorizes risk of disease recurrence over a ten year period. The test adds significantly more information to guide treatment than clinical factors alone, including substantially more information than other risk assessment tests currently available.