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A new study has found that women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer don't always need chemotherapy.
一项最新研究发现，诊断出乳腺癌早期的女性不需要经常接受化疗。
Even though chemotherapy drugs have harsh side effects, many women with small or early-stage tumors receive treatment after surgery because doctors think there is a high risk the cancer will return and spread.
尽管化疗的副作用非常痛苦，但是很多患有乳腺癌早期或者病情较轻的女性依然在手术之后接受化疗，因为医生认为癌细胞有转移和复发的风险。
But based on the findings of a multi-center European study, researchers have concluded that 46 percent of women thought to have early high-risk tumors did not need drug treatment.
但是欧洲多个医学中心的研究人员发现，46%的患有早期高风险肿瘤的女性不需要药物治疗。
They studied a test called MammaPrint, which analyzes the genetics of the tumor, telling doctors which women are good candidates for chemotherapy.
他们研究了一项名为"基因检测"的测试项目，这个项目能够分析肿瘤的基因，以便帮助医生决定哪些患者适合接受化疗。
European researchers enrolled almost 6,700 women with early stage breast cancer from 112 institutions in nine European countries between 2007 and 2011 to investigate the so-called 70-gene signature test.
欧洲研究人员在2007年到2011年期间，从9个欧洲国家的112家医疗机构招募了近6700名乳腺癌早期患者，研究了这个所谓的70基因标记测试。
Fatima Cardoso, a medical oncologist with the Champalimaud Cancer Center in Lisbon, Portugal, is the principal investigator of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
葡萄牙里斯本Champalimaud癌症研究中心的内科肿瘤医生法蒂玛·卡多索是这项研究的总负责人，其研究成果发表在了《新英格兰医学杂志》上。
"By analyzing all these characteristics of the tumor, like fingerprint or the ID card of the tumor," she told VOA, "we were able to better characterize the biology of the disease and to understand if the tumor had a high risk of relapse or a lower risk of relapse."
她在接受《美国之声》采访时表示："通过分析所有这些肿瘤的特点--就好像肿瘤的指纹或者身份证一样，我们能够更好地辨别这种疾病的生理特征，确定癌症复发的风险是高还是低。"
If a clinical assessment of a high risk of relapse matched the findings of a participant's genetic test, she received chemotherapy. If both tests showed a low risk, the woman did not get drug treatment.
如果一个受试者复发的临床评估与基因检测的结果相一致的话，她就需要接受化疗。如果两个测试都显示复发的风险不高，患者就不需要接受化疗。
Out of the initial group of women, however, results for 1,500 were mixed; they were deemed by their doctors' clinical assessment to be at high risk for a return of their cancer, but determined to be at low risk using the gene test. Half were assigned to receive chemotherapy and half did not.
但是，初始患者组中有1500人的结果有些复杂；她们医生做出的临床评估表明她们癌症复发的可能性很高，但是基因测试却显示复发的可能性很低。一半的人被指定接受化疗，而另一半的人则没有。
Five years later, at the end of the study, researchers found survival rates among women who did not get chemo were almost as good as those who were treated. The survival rate among the non-chemotherapy group was 95 percent after five years and just 1.5 percent higher among women who got chemotherapy, according to Cardoso.
五年之后，研究结束时，研究人员发现，没有接受化疗的患者生存率和接受了化疗的患者生存率一样高。卡多索表示，没接受化疗的那组患者的五年生存率为95%，比接受化疗那组患者的五年生存率高出了1.5%。
"So for the patient clearly this is a way forward, going into precision medicine. We can analyze the tumor of that specific patient and tell her or him that the risk of relapse is sufficiently high or sufficiently low regarding the value of chemotherapy," said Cardoso.
卡多索说道："所以，对患者来说，有一条道路是非常明确的，那就是精准施药。我们能够分析特定患者的肿瘤，并就复发的风险高低来告知患者接受化疗的价值。"
