The Adjuvant Radiotherapy Intensification Classifier (ARTIC) predicts which women with early-stage breast cancer will benefit the most from radiotherapy, as well as their risk for locoregional recurrence after radiation, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology

They tested ARTIC in 748 women in the SweBCG91-RT trial and compared the results to previously published genomic signatures. They found the tool to be highly predictive of both radiotherapy benefit (p = 0.005) and locoregional recurrence after radiotherapy (hazard ratio = 3.4, 95% confidence interval = 2–5.9). Lower ARTIC scores were associated with greater benefit and less risk of recurrence. 

“ARTIC identified women with a substantial benefit from radiotherapy as well as women with a particularly elevated locoregional recurrence risk in whom whole-breast radiotherapy was not sufficiently effective and, thus, in whom intensified treatment strategies such as tumor-bed boost, and possibly regional nodal radiotherapy, should be considered,” the researchers concluded.