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Experts Issue New Guidelines on Breast Cancer Drugs |
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Wednesday, 14 July 2010 08:50 |
A group of cancer experts issued new guidelines on the best way to use two classes of hormone therapies for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
After a detailed review of medical research, the experts reported that adding an aromatase inhibitor - a drug that reduces estrogen levels produced in the body - reduces 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.
Therefore, the committee preparing the guidelines recommended 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 tamoxifen therapy to lower their risk of cancer reoccurance.
The paper, issued by the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) was published July 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. |
