"Breast cancer prevention drugs ‘should be prescribed’
"Women at high risk of developing breast cancer should be given preventative drugs, according to an international panel of cancer experts.
“Writing in the Lancet Oncology, they said drugs such as tamoxifen could reduce the chances of developing breast cancer.”
I’ve checked the links given at the end of the story, but none of them say what factors would put someone in the high risk category. (Lancet Oncology has a paywall.) If this is given in the States it might be possible to find out; further down in the BBC article it refers to ‘women who have greater than 4% chance of developing breast cancer’. Tamoxifen can have serious side effects, of course. It will be interesting to learn more about who might have preventative Tamoxifen prescribed.
It would also be interesting to know who would put up with the side effects for something that is only a 4% possibility. Lots of women who have had BC give up before the five years is up.
Breast Cancer Care’s Clinical Nurse Specialist, Rachel Rawson said:
'This review suggests some interesting ideas on how women with dense breast tissue may be able to minimise their risk of developing breast cancer in the future.
'We know that women with dense breast tissue may be at an increased risk of developing breast cancer and we welcome research in to ways to reduce their risk through closer monitoring and tamoxifen therapy. However, tamoxifen can cause side effects for some women such as hot flushes, and in rare cases, blood clots and womb cancer, so long-term studies are needed to clearly identify which women are most likely to benefit from taking the drug and least likely to experience side effects before we could consider routinely using it as a way to potentially prevent the disease.
‘Anyone with concerns about their risk of developing breast cancer can call Breast Cancer Care’s freephone helpline on 0808 800 6000 or visit breastcancercare.org.uk.’
Lovely - if it could be as simple as the headlines would have us believe! as roadrunner says-when all facts of what it involves are known-how many women would take it ‘in case’.Also maybe it’s just me but if these drugs are so very good at prevention, why do they take a huge number of us off them after the 5 year plan is finished,most of us must surely have a higher then 4% changes of getting it (again)?
I wonder if that 4% figure in the BBC is accurate? Or should it be something like ‘the 4% of women who have dense breast tissue’ or something like that? As the bulk of the article is behind a paywall, I have no way of checking.
I’ll try to check out some other reliable sites to see if it is put differently anywhere else.
The US sites I’ve looked at specify ‘high risk’ but don’t put that as a percentage. A summary of the tamoxifen study says women were chosen to participate on the basis of having relatives with BC, having conditions like DCIS previously, being over 60, having several non-cancerous breast conditions and so on. Another drug has also been licensed in the US.
Let’s hope for some more detailed information about who might actually benefit.
And they ignore pre-menopausal women, and they ignore HER2+ cancer, and they ignore… you get the point.
Also, I am automatically suspicious of any article that mentions a percentage, as most reporters in the media haven’t got a scooby-doo how to deal with statistics and so come out with a complete load of nonsense when they try (and fail) to interpret the statistics of the research.
Sorry if I tread on anyone’s toes here as not having tamoxifen but summat else for hormones after chemo/rads but, just looking round these forums, it is easy to see we are all different and so is our treatment. How the blanket prescribing of tamoxifen would work given these circumstances I don’t know, especially as it seems the side effects may be worse than the primary condition?
Tamoxifen as a preventative is discussed in ‘Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book’. She does discuss the issue of whether it is worth it. My edition is the 2005 one and I think there may be a more recent one.
I participated in the IBIS trial 2000 - 2005 which was looking at this - it may be this trial has contributed to the report - I don’t know, but just a thought.
TBH, I was pre menopausal and sailed thru so easily myself and eth genetic nurse were convinced I was on the placebo, but when UI developed BC in 2009 th ecode was cracked and I’d been on tamoxifen. Now whether this delayed my onset or not I don’t know and never will, but interesting topic
in terms of what is high risk this is dependant on your family history… somebody is considered high risk if they have 4 breast or ovarian cancers in the family over 3 generations or one individual with both breast and ovarian cancer.
Jack Cuzick who is involved in IBIS (International Breast cancer Intervention Study) developed a model a few years back for working out the percentage risks of developing breast cancer based on family history and personal risk factors.
IBIS 1 was looking at tamoxifen compared to placebo in moderate and high risk individuals… it has since finished and now IBIS 2 is looking at how effective arimidex is in preventing breast cancer.