Molecular Pathology Laboratory Network

Laboratory testing continues to evolve and can add significant prognostic and predictive information to physicians as they care for patients with breast cancer. However, new research suggests human epidermal growth-factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene testing may be underused in routine clinical practice.

A literature review by U.S. scientists revealed that little evidence was available to determine whether all eligible patients are tested, how many are retested to confirm results, and how many patients with negative HER2 test results still receive trastuzumab.

The review also indicates that up to 66% of eligible patients had no documentation of testing in their health insurance records and up to 20% of patients receiving trastuzumab were not tested or had no documentation of a positive test.

For more information about these research findings, visit the journal Cancer online.