This study contributed to the development of a treatment with the drug trastuzumab for the particularly aggressive HER2+ type of breast cancer (which accounts for 15-20% of cases). This revolutionary treatment transformed a cancer once considered to be very aggressive to one that can be treated more easily. Since then, it has informed many new studies, to save even more lives.

Patients with high-risk HER2-negative primary breast cancer who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations in their genes could see the risk of death from their breast cancer cut by about 32% when treated with olaparib.

About 46% of women with early breast cancer could be spared chemotherapy when the Mamma Print test was used in addition to conventional testing. Updated results of the study confirmed this, especially for postmenopausal women.

After breast-conserving surgery, higher radiation doses to the part of the breast where ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) was found, in addition to radiotherapy of the whole breast, significantly reduced recurrence in higher risk patients. Radiotherapy could also be shortened safely.

The latest analysis showed the use of anti-HER2 therapy adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab and chemotherapy resulted in a 28% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death for those patients with HER2+ early breast cancer at highest risk, such as those with lymph node-positive disease.

Relapse rates could be cut by 34% thanks to a new treatment option combining exemestane with ovarian function suppression for young women with breast cancer.