Manx Breast Cancer Support Group will fund a test for a year which can determine whether or not some breast cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy.

Oncotype DX can determine whether or not a patient in the early stages of certain types of breast cancer will benefit from chemotherapy, therefore preventing the need for unneccessary treatment.

An anonymous donor approached the charity offering to provide a year’s funding.

The Department of Health’s Clinical Recommendation Committee (CRC) has yet to make a final decision as to whether it will be made available on the Manx NHS. The UK equivalent, NICE, authorised the use of the test in 2013 but is reviewing its guidance and undertaking further studies. It is still freely available to UK patients on the NHS.

Health Minister David Ashford said: ’The department will look more fully at Oncotype DX testing once the diagnostic review from NICE is completed in September.

’At that point we will take into account not just the financial benefits but also critically, and even more importantly, the medical pathway benefits for patients.’

The test costs £2,500 per patient and can be used on those who have been diagnosed at an early stage of a specific type of breast cancer, which accounts for around 40% of breast cancer patients.

We understand at least four breast cancer patients in the island have already paid for the test themselves.

One patient, a woman who did not wish to give her name, was diagnosed in 2012 with Stage 2 invasive estrogen-receptor-positive cancer. She elected to be treated privately at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. As part of deciding her treatment plan she was offered the test.

She said: ’My tests results were borderline for combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but further research and tests showed there would be little benefit to me of having chemotherapy. I was therefore treated with radiotherapy only.

’This was the biggest relief of my life as I would otherwise have been subjected to months of gruelling, debilitating and costly chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, away from my family.’

Having seen the article in the Courier about the test, she is urging the DHSC to make it available.

She said: ’I was fortunate in that I had private medical insurance to cover the costs of my treatment and tests and I was able to personally fund my travel and accommodation costs. Why should those, who because of their financial circumstances, not be afforded the best treatment available? To be told you have cancer is probably the worst moment in anyone’s life.

’To be told there is a test available to help determine the best course of treatment for you, but you cannot have it unless you pay for it, only adds to the despair and anxiety you are experiencing.’

Julie Stokes, chairman of Manx Breast Cancer Support Group said: ’Chemotherapy is acknowledged to be toxic, with some serious side effects. A full round of chemotherapy can take up to eight months. Many cancer patients have to travel off the island for their chemotherapy, with all the disruption this causes to their families and work, not to mention the cost to the department.

’We are absolutely delighted we have an offer of funding to enable our charity to pay for the test in the short term though clearly in the longer term this is something which should be provided on the NHS, as it is in the UK.’