A study of treatment options for early-stage breast cancer now gives local women ready access to significant clinical research. Through its membership in the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network, Doylestown Hospital Cancer Center is participating in an important study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

Known as the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), or TAILORx, the study has several goals. One is to determine the effectiveness of chemotherapy for early-stage treatment. Many women diagnosed with breast cancer are advised to undergo chemotherapy along with radiation and hormonal therapy, but it is not known for certain that chemotherapy provides benefit to all patients.

“Are we overtreating early-stage breast cancer with chemotherapy? That’s an important question,” says Laura Heacock, RN, BSN, OCN, oncology research coordinator.

TAILORx will examine whether genes that frequently are associated with risk of recurrence for women with early-stage breast cancer can be effectively used to direct patients to the most appropriate and effective treatment.

“Because we offer clinical trials here, patients have more options,” Ms. Heacock explains.

The study aims to evaluate more than 10,000 women and is taking place at 900 research sites in the United States and Canada.