When Chemo Isn’t
Worth It Against
Breast CancerA new study found that
about 70 percent of
women with the most
common type of early-
stage breast cancer
likely do not need
chemotherapy after
surgery. A gene-
expression test exam-
ined the tumors of more
than 10,000 women
with hormone receptor–
positive, HER2-negative
breast cancer that had
not spread to lymph
nodes. The test assigned
each woman a “recur-
rence score” from 0 to
100; the higher the
score, the greater the
chance the cancer
would return. Among
the women who scored
between 11 and 25,
those who received hor-
mone therapy (the most
common treatment)
had almost identical
survival and recurrence
rates as those who also
got chemo. The one
exception: Women
age 50 or younger with
a score of 16 to 25 did
benefit from chemo.A SINGLE CONCUSSION
RAISES DEMENTIA RISK
A study of more than 2.5 million people
found that having just one concussion in-
creased the risk of developing dementia by
17 percent compared with those with no
concussions. The more concussions you’ve
had, the greater the risk. If you’ve had a
concussion, though, don’t panic: Your abso-
lute chance of getting dementia remains
quite low. That said, you might want to man-
age the other known risk factors, which in-
clude alcohol abuse and hypertension, and
take precautions against getting hurt again.
Photograph by The Voorhes
Reader’s DigestNews From theWORLD OF
MEDICINE
rd.com | february 2019 35