Iran-Made Kit Determines Need for Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

“Reduction of the costs and undesired side effects of chemotherapy is one of the advantages of this kit,” Rezvan Esmayeeli, a faculty member and head of the genetics department of Mo’tamed Cancer Research Institute affiliated to Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) of Iran said.

“At present, chemotherapy is used to prevent recurrence and metastasis in most patients with breast cancer after surgery,” she noted.

Esmayeeli said that with the successful implementation of the project to produce a kit to determine the need for chemotherapy in breast cancer, it is possible to perform this test - as one of the important steps in diagnosing and choosing the treatment method for breast cancer patients - at a much lower price and in a minimum period of time in Iran.

“The plan is aimed at identifying people with breast cancer who can continue to live a better quality of life without chemotherapy,” she underlined.

Breast cancer is highly treatable, and the majority of patients who receive proper care live long, healthy lives. But the diagnosis can still spark a great deal of anxiety. A person’s first instinct may be to think that aggressive treatment is the best way to go, but evidence suggests that is not necessarily the case.

Cancer treatments have changed—to the point where women with certain types of breast cancers need less treatment than they might have anticipated. While some form of surgery—either a mastectomy or lumpectomy—will usually still be necessary, chemotherapy, a range of drugs that can eradicate cancer cells but cause harsh side effects, might be minimized or not used at all for some patients. In fact, some patients may ultimately do better on other therapies.

4155/v