A new study just published in The New England Journal of Medicine could lead to more tailored treatments that would spare some women from the most potent chemotherapy or help those with more dangerous forms of breast cancer get more aggressive treatment earlier.  The pivotal study counted the number of circulating tumor cells in the blood.  Those women with higher counts potentially had more aggressive cancers. The study's lead author doctor Massimo Cristofanilli at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center:

"Well, I think the most important result comes from this study.  It is very exciting for us and it is very important for women that when we are able to detect cancer cells, we are able to decide on a proper treatment for these women.  If there are no cancer cells these women appear to have a very good prognosis of very prolong survival, and less likely the disease can be managed in a moderate way with a treatment probably less aggressive.  So this is an important first step in a more tailored and certified treatment for women with metastasis disease." 

The diagnostic technology used in the study is being developed by Veridex, a Johnson and Johnson company, and may be available as early as Fall.

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