Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Tamoxifen 5 years or 10 years?

There is a recent trial result published in Lancet

Long-term effects of continuing adjuvant tamoxifen to 10 years versus stopping at 5 years after diagnosis of oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: ATLAS, a randomised trial

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61963-1/fulltext?_eventId=login

If you were a patient diagnosed of early breast cancer and had oestrogen positivity, in all likelihood you were/are taking tamoxifen(some of you may be on letrozole or anastrozole!). Your doctor would have suggested that you need to take this for 5 years. With the results of the above mentioned trial, now you will be recommended to take it for 10 years. Because the results suggest that 10 years of tamoxifen treatment can approximately halve breast cancer mortality during the second decade after diagnosis.

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