Study Confirms Tamoxifen Prevents Breast Cancer In High-Risk Women

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Breast Cancer;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  Endocrinology
Article Date: 07 May 2007 - 7:00 PDT

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Women at high risk for breast cancer who have undergone a hysterectomy appear to benefit from taking tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer, according to an extended follow-up of the Italian Randomized Tamoxifen Trial.

The initial findings from the Italian trial showed no significant reduction in breast cancer risk with tamoxifen use. However, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project's Breast Cancer Prevention Trial found that tamoxifen reduced the risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Umberto Veronesi, M.D., of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, and colleagues randomly assigned 5,408 healthy women who had a hysterectomy to receive tamoxifen or a placebo for five years.

After 11 years of follow-up, 136 women developed breast cancer - 74 in the placebo group and 62 in the tamoxifen group. Among low-risk women, rates of breast cancer were similar in the tamoxifen and placebo groups. But for women at high risk, breast cancer rates were lower for those taking tamoxifen. Women taking tamoxifen experienced more side effects, including hot flashes and heart problems, than women in the placebo group.

"A complete assessment of the baseline cardiovascular risk should become an important component of counseling women on the use of tamoxifen, particularly in the prevention setting," the authors write.

Contact: Donata Francese, European Institute of Oncology

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Other highlights in the May 2 JNCI

Note: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Attribution to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute is requested in all news coverage. Visit the Journal online at http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/.

Contact: Liz Savage
Journal of the National Cancer Institute jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org

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