There are a few of these types of testing, and Oncotype is one of them. A sample of the tumour is tested to see if it's a tumour which is fast growing or not as well as other tests checking the genetic structure. Not all breast cancers benefit from these tests, with some, the initial biopsy answers those questions. I've read on this site, and another, of a number of people who have had the test with the large cost, and extra waiting...which has been hugely stressful, only to be told that they are in a "grey area" and that they then have to make a decision based on percentages. The problem with percentages, is that you don't know ahead of time which side of the line you fall on. Say the test is done, and then let's say the reply is that in their view, chemotherapy would only add an extra 5% that the cancer will not return. Then say that, based on those seemingly small percentages, the person chooses not to have the chemo. Now lets say the cancer does indeed return...would you be wishing you had had the chemo...perhaps you would have been one of those 5%...but now it's stage 4 and in your liver and bones. Would you be saying "Que Sera Sera?" Cancer treatment is all percentages, X % for surgery...Y% for chemo and Z% for radiotherapy and they all add up. I've used this example before, but you're new, so I guess you may not have read it, but here goes. If you saw a dress shop offering a discount of 5% on all summer dresses, you might say "Ho hum" and walk on by...not very much worth getting excited by. But, if you opened up your morning paper, and saw that a crazed gunman had entered a large city high school with 1000 pupils and had shot dead 5% of the pupils...that would be 50 dead kids, and would probably then not be seen as a small percentage.
