Client Story
How PHM helped Jessica go beyond standard care with personalized treatment and meaningful results.
After a routine check-up, 31-year-old Jessica was diagnosed with an invasive form of breast cancer. Standard treatment for Jessica’s type of cancer is to have surgery, followed by chemotherapy depending on the staging, radiation and hormone therapy.
Rather than immediately agree to the standard of care treatment plan, Jessica turned to PHM for a thorough review of her case.
Because of her age and type of cancer, her PHM Personal Care Team was particularly concerned about her risk reassurance. Jessica’s PHM team recommended additional tests, including comprehensive molecular profiling, which gave insight into cancer subtype, treatment sequence, and how best to prevent the cancer from returning.
Tests showed that the cancer was an aggressive, hormone-positive cancer at high risk for recurrence. However, the subtype was also typically more responsive to chemotherapy, suggesting that a chemotherapy-first approach would make subsequent surgery less invasive and risky. It also showed a genetic abnormality in some cancer cells, indicating resistance to hormone therapy. That meant standard treatment could put her at risk for recurrence if those cells were still present.
Fortunately, Jessica’s PHM team knew that a CDK4/6 inhibitor drug could kill this kind of cancer cell. The team recommended a clinical trial testing this drug combination for breast cancer patients at risk of recurrence and secured Jessica a spot in the trial.
After her treatments and the clinical trial, Jessica is now cancer free and looking to the future with confidence. The comprehensive molecular profiling and personalized treatment plan recommended by PHM played a key role in guiding Jessica’s care.
The personalized information and detailed testing led to a selection of chemotherapy first and a clinical trial for a drug combination that targeted the specific genetic abnormality. This approach significantly reduced her risk of reoccurrence, and six months after Jessica started the trial, a published study confirmed its effectiveness.
To learn more about breast cancer from PHM experts, watch our on-demand webinar about the latest, including risk factors, screening tools, and treatments. You can also download our information guide.
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