Breast Cancer Prevention:
Many breast cancer survivors take anti-estrogens for at least five years to help reduce their risk of Breast Cancer recurrence.
Case by case
However, new research the breast suggests that taking such a drug for an even longer period can not confer additional benefits, at least in terms of survival.
The study of thousands of older breast cancer survivors revealed that taking the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole (Femara) for more than five years recommended did the breast not help Breast Cancer them to live longer.
However, other benefits have been noted, so the decision to expand the use of drugs like this is one of the best done on a case-by-case basis, the cancer specialists said.
An oncologist who reviewed new findings said the study was Breast Cancer "eagerly awaited", as many breast cancer survivors are advised to take an aromatase inhibitor.
Read: Decoding Breast Cancer
"For the time being, this trial reinforces the need to listen to our patients and to weigh the risk of side effects before extending the therapy to 10 years," said Dr. Nina D'Abreo, medical director of the program. Health at Winthrop-University Hospital In Mineola, New York.
Many forms of breast cancer can grow in the presence of estrogen, so that drugs such as estrogen inhibiting aromatase inhibitors are used to help prevent the disease.
There were, however, other advantages. For example, women who extended their use of letrozole showed a 29 percent reduction in breast cancer recurrence, and a 28 percent reduction in a tumor occurring at places outside the breasts.
The study was led by Dr. Terry Mamounas, medical the breast director of the full breast program at the University of Florida's Health Cancer Center in Orlando. He presented the results Wednesday at the annual Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas.
Women who took letrozole during the extra years Breast Cancer also experienced a "small increase in the risk of events [coagulation] after 2.5 years," Mamounas noted in a press release of the meeting. This slight increase in cardiovascular risk means that older women who are considering spending more time on the drug "will require careful assessment of potential risks and benefits," he said.
This case-by-case assessment would involve a Breast Cancer discussion of various patient factors, such as the patient's age at diagnosis, whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, other diseases the patient may have, bone mineral density , And the side effects that she had experimented with from the aromatase inhibitor drug, Mamounas said.
Read: Treatment of less intrusive breast cancer can save many lives
Dr. Ruby Sharma is a medical oncologist at Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Lake Success, New York. She agreed that on the basis of the results, "the decision to prescribe five additional years of endocrine therapy should be individualized for each particular patient depending on the individual risk of recurrence and side effects of treatment.
The study was funded by the US National Cancer Institute and the pharmaceutical company Novartis, which makes Femara.
Experts note that the results presented at medical the breast meetings Breast Cancer are generally considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
"For the time being, this trial reinforces Breast Cancer the need to listen to our patients the breast and to weigh the risk of side effects before extending the therapy to 10 years," said Dr. Nina D'Abreo, Medical Director of the Breast Health at Winthrop-University Hospital In Mineola, NY
Many forms of breast cancer can grow in the presence of estrogen, so that drugs such as estrogen inhibiting aromatase inhibitors are used to help prevent the disease.
But how long do survivors of breast cancer need to be placed on these drugs?
To help discover, researchers followed the results for nearly 4,000 postmenopausal women with an early stage of breast cancer positive hormone receptor the breast (meaning that the tumors were sensitive to estrogen). Women took either letrozole or Breast Cancer placebo for an average of about two years after initial treatment with a five-year aromatase inhibitor.
The result: Women who took letrozole in the past two years did not have statistically significantly higher rates of disease-free survival or overall survival than those in the placebo group, according to the study.
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