10,000 women needed for trial that could revolutionise breast cancer treatment

By: Emily Morgan

From: itv.com

We may all know that survival rates from breast cancer in the UK are some of the worst in the developed world but it’s no less shocking each time we hear it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly America has the best rates at 90.2%, with the UK on 85.6%. Spain, Ireland and Austria lag behind but most nations are above 85%.

The key factor in surviving breast cancer is early diagnosis and every woman automatically gets invited for a breast screening from the age of 50. Mammograms are then offered every three years thereafter.

But what if there was a test that could tell whether you’re predisposed to breast cancer way before your first screening? What if a simple saliva swab could be genetically tested to give you an indication of whether you are high or low risk?

Well, the answer to that is we could start to increase survival rates quite significantly.

This is not pie in the sky. Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge is leading an international trial in the UK to see whether this should be rolled out.

Three NHS sites in the UK are trying to recruit 10,000 volunteers, aged between 40 and 70, to take part and the end result could be groundbreaking.

Each volunteer, after giving a saliva sample and some family history, will then be told whether they might be predisposed to breast cancer or not. If they’re high risk, they will be be given annual screenings.

The aim is to tailor care to individual needs to see whether it leads to better outcomes.

The good news is this isn’t a trial to test whether the genetic analysis works. We know it does.

It is simply to decide whether women would be up for giving a saliva sample, along with their screening and then, whether it is feasible to give tailored care to everyone.

When you think that nearly 100,000 women die of breast cancer a year, you can see the merits of this trial.

Breast screening only saves the lives of around 1,300 each year so it’s hoped more regular mammograms for high-risk people will increase this figure.

We spoke to one of the participants in the UK, Eileen Hughes. She had mixed views about the trial, since she was told she was high risk.

That news was a shock but she is now very happy that she will now receive annual check ups and a much better chance of survival if something is found early on.