Anytime I read about a potential treatment that could cut recurrence in breast cancer – I am all over it! I want to read and know more. Every woman who has received a breast cancer diagnosis has the fear of recurrence. Each year with an “all clear” from the doctor is cause to C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E!
Currently, women whose tumors were fueled by the hormone estrogen can take the drug tamoxifen after undergoing surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to reduce their risk of a recurrence. But tamoxifen only helps for five years. After that, it may be dangerous.
A recent study in conducted in Canada reveals that breast cancer patients treated with the drug Femara® (letrozole) several years after completing treatment with tamoxifen (Nolvadex®) have a reduced risk of a recurrence. These findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The majority of breast cancers are hormone receptor-positive. These cancers are stimulated to grow by the circulating female hormones estrogen and/or progesterone. Femara is also an estrogen-blocking drug that is commonly prescribed to postmenopausal women diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
From Susan G. Komen for the Cure website….www.komen.org
Previous research indicates that 50% of breast cancer recurrences and deaths occur five or more years after completing tamoxifen treatment. Additional research has shown that starting treatment with Femara immediately following tamoxifen treatment may help prevent a recurrence. In this study, however, researchers sought to determine if the addition of Femara at any time following tamoxifen treatment could reduce the chance of a recurrence.
Participants in the study were women who had previously been treated with five years of tamoxifen. Each was randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or Femara. Initially, the women were unaware of which group they had been assigned to. But after two years of treatment, participants in the placebo group were given the option of switching to the Femara treatment group. Final analysis was completed on 2,383 women who had been in the placebo group when the option to change to the Femara group was offered. Of these women, 1,579 chose to join the Femara group, while 804 chose not to.
Women who started Femara at an average of 31 months after completing tamoxifen reduced their risk of breast cancer recurrence by 63% when compared with the women who did not start Femara.
The risk of cancer spreading to other areas of the body was also reduced by 61% with treatment with Femara.
This study indicates that it may never be too late for breast cancer survivors to protect themselves against future breast cancer recurrences and that Femara may effectively reduce these risks.
All of this is really great news…I love the phrase never be too late for breast cancer survivors to protect themselves against future breast cancer recurrences.
