By 1812Blockhouse
For many breast cancer patients, the hardest part isn’t the diagnosis or even the surgery. It’s the long wait afterward. You go home, try to rest, and brace yourself for the call that will spell out the next steps. Will treatment now include chemotherapy? Radiation? Or is the tumor gone for good?
Until recently, patients at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital faced a delay that often stretched into weeks. That lag time wasn’t because anyone wanted it. It was because of the way the system worked.
The hospital’s cancer team decided that wasn’t good enough.
A New Approach to a High-Stakes Test
“We created reflex testing,” said Dr. Laura Avery, general surgeon and cancer liaison physician at Mansfield Hospital. “So now when the pathologist receives the specimen, they can look at the criteria under the supervision of the surgeon and they’re able to send off that test. Then, we’re able to get it much sooner.”
She’s talking about the Oncotype DX Test, which plays a pivotal role in determining whether hormone-receptor positive breast cancer is likely to return. The score guides whether a patient needs chemotherapy or can safely avoid it.
Previously, this test wasn’t even ordered until the oncologist met the patient for a follow-up appointment. The reflex process eliminates that bottleneck. As soon as the tissue sample arrives, the pathologist evaluates it and sends the test immediately.
The result: patients now get answers an average of 11 days sooner.
Less Waiting, Less Anxiety
“That was just a period of time that created a lot of anxiety for that patient,” Dr. Avery said. “And that was our concern. We wanted to make sure they were getting to their next step in treatment in a timely manner, whether that be radiation therapy or getting to chemotherapy.”
For patients, those days matter emotionally as much as medically.
One Patient’s Story
Molly McCue knows the weight of that waiting. Diagnosed in 2021 with Stage One Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, she remembers the long stretch between surgery and her Oncotype DX score.
“My local oncologist here at OhioHealth was quick to call me to give me the good news, that my score was low,” she said. “It was a five, and I did not need the chemotherapy. So, I was grateful for that.”
Her wait lasted two weeks. Today, patients in her situation should hear much sooner.
“The unknown is the worst,” McCue said. “The sooner you can have a path of treatment and that information needed to know that, the better.”
A Better Experience, Same Level of Care
Reflex testing doesn’t change the science of breast cancer treatment, but it changes the experience of living through it. By tightening the window between surgery and next steps, Mansfield Hospital is giving patients more clarity and less time suspended in uncertainty.
Source: OhioHealth
