long-term tamoxifen increases survival in breast cancer
Address of this page:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/news/fullstory_110157.html (* this news will not be available after 06/20/2011)
Translated to English: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Related Topic
MedlinePlus Breast Cancer
LONDON (Reuters) - The breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen for the generic drug five years are less likely to return to the disease than those who take it for only two years, a long-term study British scientists.
The findings showed that for every 100 women with breast cancer who completed a course of five years of tamoxifen, the cancer returned in about six women less, compared with only took the drug for two years.
"Women diagnosed with breast cancer in early stage who are prescribed tamoxifen were advised to take the drug for five years, but we know that many stop taking it after two or three years," said Allan Hackshaw, Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Centre at University College London, who worked on the study.
"It is worrying our results suggest that doing so may increase your risk of your cancer coming back, "he added.
Of the nearly 3,500 patients studied in the trial for more than 10 years, the cancer returned in about 40 percent of taking tamoxifen for five years, compared with 46 percent who took it for two years.
Breast cancer kills 500,000 people per year worldwide and is diagnosed in about 1.3 million each year. About 75 percent of these cancers are estrogen receptor positive, which means they are driven by hormones.
Tamoxifen was the first drug to block the effects of estrogen, and a new generation of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors have been developed to act in a similar way.
U.S. Experts estimate that five years of tamoxifen would cost about $ 8,500, compared with 50,000 to over $ 200,000 of chemotherapy to treat breast cancer.
The drug has side effects. Increases the risk of blood clots, uterine cancer and cataracts, according to the National Cancer Institute U.S..
But most experts say its benefits in reducing the risk of breast cancer counteract these problems more unusual.
latter British study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on Monday, also found that an added benefit from taking tamoxifen for five years was to reduce their risk of developing or dying of heart disease.
This effect was stronger in women between 50 and 59 years at diagnosis, with 35 percent of women who developed heart disease and nearly 60 percent fewer deaths as a result, they said.
Scientists know that taking tamoxifen for five years gives the best chance of survival of breast cancer. But this trial is the first large study to compare the benefit of long- Within five years of tamoxifen versus two years for a follow-up period of more than 10 years.
A study in the 1990 British researchers found that giving tamoxifen to all breast cancer patients in need, at any age, could save 20,000 additional lives each year worldwide.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, March 21, 2011.
Reuters Health
© 2011 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its content providers. The content of these pages may not be copied, commercial use only or in full, without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content. "Reuters" and its logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of group Thomson Reuters business worldwide. For more information on other Reuters media services please visit http://about.reuters.com/media/. © Thomson Reuters 2011
long-term tamoxifen increases survival in breast cancer: MedlinePlus
0 comments:
Post a Comment