Does Breast Cancer That Seems to Have High Recurrence Risk Always Need Chemo?

Results from the OPTIMA trial suggest that people with early-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that seems to have a high risk of recurrence based on clinical features — like a high number of positive lymph nodes — may be able to safely skip chemotherapy if they have a low Prosigna risk of recurrence score. The findings were presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Iain MacPherson, professor of breast oncology at the University of Glasgow, was chief investigator of the study. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. MacPherson explain: the design and results of the OPTIMA study why he thinks the trial results are groundbreaking whether or not the results apply to men with this type of breast cancer