Episode 306: Balancing Fear of Recurrence vs. Treatment Side Effects in Survivorship

On today’s episode, we are discussing a topic that affects most women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer after they finish their initial treatment and begin navigating survivorship. To lower the risk of recurrence, most women begin taking anti-estrogen therapy, also called hormone therapy or endocrine therapy, but these treatments do not come without the risk of side effects. When side effects become severe, survivors may be faced with the task of weighing the benefits of hormone therapy against the associated side effects. This can be challenging and may even lead them to wonder how much longer they need to continue on the medication. Joining us today to discuss how patients and providers can balance fear of recurrence against potential side effects of treatment and how genomic testing can help guide treatment decisions is a Nurse Practitioner at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Adriana Olivo. This podcast is sponsored by Biotheranostics Inc., a Hologic Company. The Breast Cancer Index test is the only test recognized by the NCCN guidelines and the ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline to predict which patients are likely to benefit from extension of adjuvant anti-estrogen therapy beyond 5 years.