Word: tamoxifen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...with current clinical trials, women at high risk for breast cancer will soon be able to be screened with a device that removes a sample of breast cells through the nipple. If any cells show signs of the early mutations that lead to cancer, doctors can suggest the drug tamoxifen, which is believed to reduce the risk of breast cancer by suppressing precancerous cells. Drugs with fewer side effects that can also prevent breast cancer are already in the pipeline...
Thus far only tamoxifen has been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for reducing the risk of breast cancer. But ever since preliminary data suggested that raloxifene might also help keep breast cancer at bay, the spotlight has been shifting toward the newer drug. Why? Because raloxifene, unlike tamoxifen, doesn't appear to increase a woman's risk of developing uterine cancer...
...balance even further in raloxifene's favor. Researchers, led by Dr. Steven Cummings of the University of California at San Francisco, reported that taking the drug for 3 1/2 years reduced a woman's risk of developing breast cancer an average of 75%. By contrast, a study of tamoxifen completed last year showed that it reduced the incidence of breast cancer 45% over four years. As an added bonus, raloxifene also lowered the amount of LDL, or "bad cholesterol," in the blood...
...would be a mistake, however, to conclude that raloxifene must be the better drug; the two studies are not directly comparable. The J.A.M.A. study looked at women who had a low risk of developing breast cancer, whereas the tamoxifen experiment was conducted using women who had a high risk of getting the disease. Yet women with a high risk of breast cancer are less likely to develop the kind of estrogen-sensitive tumors that respond to designer estrogens...
Doctors are starting a head-to-head comparison of tamoxifen and raloxifene, with results expected in about five years. In the meantime, it may be that the only women who should consider raloxifene are those at highest risk of osteoporosis--the group for whom it was originally designed. (If that includes you, you should also consult your doctor about another drug, called alendronate, that may do a better job of preventing osteoporosis, although it gives some people severe heartburn.) The trick, as always, is to weigh the risks and benefits of drug treatment against your particular needs and medical history...