Word: tamoxifen
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...TAMOXIFEN This one, the government concedes, is tricky. Tamoxifen is considered an effective drug for staving off breast cancer in high-risk women and preventing a recurrence in women who already have the disease. But it's also known to increase the risk of uterine cancer. The Food and Drug Administration has nonetheless determined that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks, and HHS scientists are concerned that the new report could discourage some women who could be helped by tamoxifen from taking...
...FLASH! Tamoxifen may help prevent breast cancer, but one of the most common and intrusive side effects is hot flashes, even among women who've already gone through menopause. Relief may be in sight. A small study suggests that women who take the high-blood-pressure drug clonidine experience about one-third fewer flashes...
...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...
...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...