2013
02 June 2013 – from ASCO by Dr Hartmut Kristeleit
The recommendation for adjuvant hormone treatment for women with early breast cancer is changing and evidence shows that longer tamoxifen treatment might be better.
The British aTTom study, presented in Chicago on Sunday, added to evidence supporting the use of adjuvant tamoxifen beyond 5 years. This endorses the recent ATLAS study which had shown the same benefit of using tamoxifen for 10 instead of 5 years.
For post-menopausal women or women who have gone through menopause whilst on tamoxifen the MA-17 study had previously shown benefit in switching to letrozole after completing 5 years of tamoxifen.
The three studies have in common that hormone treatment beyond 5 years of tamoxifen appears to be beneficial. Individual treatment recommendations are complicated and depend on a woman’s particular circumstances and as such each woman should receive a specialist opinion and personal treatment plan for hormone treatment for breast cancer.