Here is a post on gene array testing.
If as suggested such tests are more reliable it may help in the determination of your decision.
There are at least two on the market.
I do not know if they will give you information on inherited risk traits as well.
RB
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/inde...microarray.xml
Gene array predicts breast cancer outcome
By ASTARA MARCH
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Researchers in Sweden have identified 64 genes that can predict who will respond to breast-cancer treatment after surgery more accurately than the currently accepted prognostic markers for the disease.
This genetic information could be used to design precise therapies for patients that could be far more successful than conventional approaches, the researchers said.
The team was led by Jonas Bergh, a professor of clinical and molecular oncology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. They extracted tumor samples from 159 patients with breast cancer and analyzed each tumor's genetic make-up using a process called DNA microarray analysis. The technique allows researchers to study thousands of genes simultaneously and analyze the expression of those genes.
When they correlated their data with what happened to the patients five years after surgery, the researchers found the 38 patients who had experienced a relapse of their cancer, or who died from any cause within that period, shared 64 genes that differed from the patients who survived.
It turned out the expression patterns of those genes provide a much better guide to breast-cancer prognosis than all existing accepted indicators, such as histological grading, tumor stage and patient's age. The microarray even could predict who would do well if no therapy were offered.
The researchers also used gene-expression profiling to study the 121 patients who did well, with or without conventional therapy.
Writing in the current issue of Breast Cancer Analysis, the Karolinska team suggested their discovery could be used to spare many women from treatments that ultimately would be unsuccessful and would subject them to painful side effects that could produce more harm than good.
There may be ethical concerns about the approach, but it could reduce the waste of healthcare resources, they added.
Astara March covers healthcare research and technology for UPI. E-mail:
sciencemail@upi.com
Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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