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Risk of Death From Certain Breast Cancers May Rise With Age
Posted 7 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Feb. 7 – The risk of dying from a hormone receptor-positive breast cancer increases with age, according to new research. And one reason might be that older women with breast cancer are undertreated compared to their younger peers. For women between the ages of 65 and 74, the risk of dying from breast cancer was 25 percent higher than for women under 65. For those 75 and older, the risk of death was 63 percent higher than for women under 65, according to the new study. "This study showed that among postmenopausal, non-metastatic, breast cancer patients, elderly patients have a higher risk of dying from breast cancer than younger patients," said study author Dr. Cornelis van de Velde, a professor of surgery at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and president of the European Cancer Organization. Results of the study are published in the Feb. 8 issue of the ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Aromasin, Exemestane, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon
Side Effects May Spur Men to Drop Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer
Posted 16 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 – One in five male breast cancer patients stops taking the drug tamoxifen early due to side effects caused by the medicine and may be at increased risk for cancer recurrence, new research suggests. Tamoxifen is the standard of care for the hormone treatment of male breast cancer patients, according to the authors of a new report published in the Nov. 16 issue of the Annals of Oncology. In the study, researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston examined the records of 64 male breast cancer patients who received tamoxifen for an average of four years and found that 34 of them (53 percent) experienced one or more tamoxifen-related side effects, such as weight gain and loss of sex drive. Thirteen (20.3 percent) of the patients stopped taking tamoxifen due to the side effects. Nine of the patients died after they discontinued tamoxifen ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Breast Cancer -- Male, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Femara May Beat Tamoxifen at Preventing Breast Cancer's Return
Posted 24 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Oct. 21 – The breast cancer drug letrozole, marketed as Femara, may be more effective than tamoxifen at preventing the return of breast cancer and improving survival among older women with hormone-sensitive breast cancers, a new study reports. In the study, published online Oct. 21 in The Lancet Oncology, the researchers updated data from an ongoing study of about 8,000 women, which compares the two drugs alone as well as the use of both Femara and tamoxifen sequentially. Femara outperformed tamoxifen in terms of breast cancer recurrence and survival, the study found. Moreover, giving Femara alone to women was more effective than giving it sequentially following tamoxifen. The new study was partially funded by Novartis, the drug company that makes Femara. The hormone estrogen feeds hormone-sensitive cancers, and blocking it may help stave off a recurrence. Femara is part of a ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Aromasin, Anastrozole, Letrozole, Exemestane, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Soltamox, Tamone, Emblon, Tamoxen, Genox
Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms
Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more
Related support groups: Cancer, Methotrexate, Provera, Breast Cancer, Lupron, Accutane, Depo-Provera, Prostate Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Lupron Depot, Medroxyprogesterone, Claravis, Gleevec
Women Who Drink, Smoke Are Less Likely to Stick With Tamoxifen
Posted 23 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Aug. 23 – Women at high risk for breast cancer who smoke and drink are less likely to stick with a drug regimen meant to prevent cancer, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed adherence to the drug tamoxifen by 11,000 women with a high risk of breast cancer who took part in the U.S. National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project's Breast Cancer Prevention Trial. Heavy drinkers (more than one drink a day) were less likely to stick with the drug regimen after one month. Smokers were less likely to adhere to the medication over the long term. Yet physical activity levels and obesity were not associated with adherence, suggesting that "poor adherence is not simply based on a pattern of unhealthy behavior in general, but could be related to common sociological, psychological, biological or genetic mechanisms that impact both substance use and medication adherence," the ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Tamoxifen Wards Off Breast Cancer's Return for More Than a Decade
Posted 28 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, July 28 – Women who took the cancer-suppressing drug tamoxifen for five years after a breast cancer diagnosis were nearly 40 percent less likely to have the cancer return, and that protection lasted for more than a decade after they stopped taking the drug, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed the results of about 20 randomized controlled trials on a five-year course of tamoxifen vs. not taking the drug. The trials involved 21,000 women from a dozen countries around the world, including the United States, Europe, China and Japan. Some 15 years after their diagnosis – and 10 years after they stopped taking the drug – women who took tamoxifen still had one-third lower risk of dying than women who didn't take it. "It's a remarkable drug," said study author Dr. Christina Davies, a lead investigator with the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group, which was ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Tamoxifen May Offer Long-Term Heart, Cancer Protection
Posted 22 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, March 22 – Taking the breast cancer drug tamoxifen for the recommended five years protects women from breast cancer recurrence better than a two-year course of the drug and it also shields some women from cardiovascular disease, new research finds. The cancer protection and heart-disease risk reduction were noted 15 years after starting treatment, according to the study published online March 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings may surprise many women on the medication, said Allan Hackshaw, deputy director of Cancer Research and the University College London Cancer Trials Center. "I think many women don't realize the benefits [reduced cancer recurrence] last a long time if they can complete the five-year course, and particularly also the CV [cardiovascular] disease benefit," he said. Hackshaw and his colleagues studied follow-up data for 3,449 participants in ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen Saves Lives, Medical Costs: Study
Posted 14 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, March 14 – For certain women at increased risk of breast cancer, tamoxifen can protect against the disease for a decade after treatment ends, save lives and reduce medical costs, new research suggests. For years, women considered at increased risk of breast cancer have taken tamoxifen as a preventive measure. But previous cost-effectiveness research has only accounted for breast cancer risk reduction while it is being taken, not after treatment ends. This new study shows that protection persists for 10 years after treatment concludes. "Whether a woman who meets these criteria should take tamoxifen is a personal decision that should be made with her doctor," said researcher Joyce Noah-Vanhoucke, a scientist at Archimedes Inc., an independent health-care modeling organization in San Francisco. For the study, published online March 14 in the journal Cancer, Noah-Vanhoucke and her ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Breast Cancer Drug May Also Help Lung Cancer Patients
Posted 24 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Jan. 24 – The anti-estrogen drug that transformed the treatment of breast cancer three decades ago may also reduce the risk of dying from lung cancer, researchers say. In a study published in the Jan. 24 online edition of the journal Cancer, tamoxifen lowered the risk of dying from lung cancer among women who already had breast cancer. However, the results are too preliminary to warrant giving tamoxifen to lung cancer patients. "There aren't a whole lot of clinical implications, but it does provide more evidence to our accumulating knowledge that female sex hormones are involved in some way, shape or form in lung cancer progression," said Dr. Apar Kishor Ganti, assistant professor of oncology-hematology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. "Whether or not it's a cause is a little sketchy." Ganti was not involved with the study. Prior studies had indicated that ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Lung Cancer, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Cough Syrup Might Help With Dosing of Breast Cancer Drug
Posted 21 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Nov. 19 – A new, small study suggests that the main ingredient in cough syrup might help doctors determine the best dose of tamoxifen, a drug commonly used to prevent and treat breast cancer. The idea is that the body absorbs cough medicine at about the same rate as tamoxifen, allowing doctors to use it to test how patients respond to the breast-cancer drug. "This study is starting to identify a personalized medicine type of approach that will help identify those patients who should have their tamoxifen doses adjusted," said Dr. Leonidas Koniaris, who's familiar with the study findings. He's an associate professor of surgery at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida. Currently, it can be difficult to set a proper dose of tamoxifen for a patient. If the dose is off, the drug may lose effectiveness or cause a ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Gene Test Might Predict Tamoxifen's Effectiveness
Posted 16 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Oct. 6 – A genetic variant seems to predict resistance to the breast cancer drug tamoxifen, German researchers report. The findings, which appear in the Oct. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, could allow clinicians to predict which women will benefit most from the drug, which has been the gold standard of breast cancer care for the past 25 years. Women who do carry the gene variant may be candidates for alternative treatments. The gene affects the activity of the CYP2D6 enzyme, which converts tamoxifen into its metabolite, endoxifen. It is this metabolite that allows the drug to work its magic against breast tumors. "This is really the largest study that's been done in this area," noted V. Craig Jordan, scientific director of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C. "It's now clear if you don't have the ability to create ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Experts Issue New Guidelines on Breast Cancer Drugs
Posted 13 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, July 13 – A leading group of cancer experts has issued new guidelines on the best way to use two classes of hormone therapies for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, the most common form of breast tumor. After a systematic review of medical research on the subject, experts reported that adding an aromatase inhibitor – a drug that reduces the amount of estrogen produced in the body – has clearly been shown to reduce the number of tumor recurrences in postmenopausal women compared with the standard drug tamoxifen, which works by blocking the action of estrogen on cancer tumors that are estrogen-receptor positive. The committee preparing the guidelines recommended, therefore, that all postmenopausal women with this type of breast cancer use aromatase inhibitors either before or after tamoxifen. They also concluded that women could use them as long as five years after ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Aromasin, Anastrozole, Letrozole, Exemestane, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Soltamox, Tamone, Emblon, Tamoxen, Genox
Gene Mutation Offers Clues to Tamoxifen-Blood Clot Link
Posted 17 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, June 17 – Researchers have identified a gene mutation that increases the risk of blood clots in women taking the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen after surgery for early-stage breast cancer. Tamoxifen is widely used for patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, but previous studies have shown that it increases the risk of blood clots, according to background information in a news release about the new study. The study included 412 women, median age 64, who received tamoxifen as "adjuvant" treatment for stage I, II or IIIA breast cancer. In cancer therapy, an adjuvant treatment is one used after surgery to improve the outcome of patients at high risk of recurrence. The women were treated between January 1999 and April 2005, and blood clots developed in 141 of the women. Patients who developed a blood clot while taking tamoxifen were nearly five times more likely to have ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
New Guidelines Issued on Hormone Receptor Testing for Breast Cancer
Posted 20 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, April 20 – The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the College of American Pathologists have issued new guidelines to improve the accuracy of the testing of estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer patients. The growth of as many as two-thirds of breast cancers are thought to be affected by the action of the estrogen-receptor pathway. Estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) testing allows doctors to determine whether a patient's breast cancer fits into that group. In that case, the patient may be eligible to be treated with so-called endrocrine therapies – including the drug tamoxifen – that can improve survival. But there's a problem: Worldwide, as many as 10 percent to 20 percent of these screens, known as immunohistochemistry tests, may be wrong. "There is clearly a need to accurately identify breast cancer subtypes as ER- and/or PgR-positive to ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Tamofen, Tamosin, Emblon, Soltamox, Tamone, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D
Raloxifene, Tamoxifen Both Guard Against Breast Cancer
Posted 19 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, April 19 – The latest results from a landmark, long-running study find that both tamoxifen and raloxifene help prevent breast cancer in postmenopausal women, although some differences are starting to emerge between the two drugs. Raloxifene (Evista), originally an osteoporosis drug, was less effective at preventing invasive breast cancer and more effective against noninvasive breast cancer than tamoxifen. But raloxifene compensated by having fewer side effects and a lower likelihood of causing uterine cancer than its older cousin. Both drugs work by interfering with the ability of estrogen to fuel tumor growth. "The results of this update are good news for postmenopausal women. It reconfirms that both of these drugs are very reasonable options to consider to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women," said Dr. D. Lawrence Wickerham, associate chairman of the ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamoxifen, Evista, Breast Cancer, Prevention, Raloxifene, Nolvadex, Tamoxifen Hexal, Soltamox, Tamone, Emblon, Tamoxen, Genox, Nolvadex D, Tamofen, Tamosin
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