A world-first Victorian cancer trial has enabled specialists to predict breast cancer patients' chances of survival—and better inform them about which treatment option has the best probability of success.

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said researchers at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre had uncovered an accurate tool for mapping the survival of patients being treated with big doses of chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer—breast cancer that spreads throughout the body.

'This trial has succeeded, where CT and bone scans have failed, to categorically determine if women benefit from aggressive breast cancer treatment and will save women from undergoing ongoing futile treatments and allow them to pursue better options.

'This technology informs specialists exactly how responsive difficult cancers are to various treatments, meaning the most aggressive and appropriate treatment can be delivered earlier.'

The trial involved 47 women with metastatic breast cancer, treating them aggressively with chemotherapy for three months and using a technique called fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to evaluate the results.

FDG is a glucose 'tracer' used to highlight cancerous cells on a sophisticated PET scan.

'Receiving a negative scan means the chemotherapy is working to prolong the life of patients and take some towards cure.

'The average survival for those with a negative scan was 24 months as opposed to 10 months.

'Until now, many women with this condition will have endured months of aggressive chemotherapy with no assurance that the treatment is working for them.

'For the first time, specialists can be confident that women with metastatic breast cancer are benefiting from aggressive chemotherapy and it opens the door for determining which women are best suited by particular therapies.'