Tamoxifen adjuvant treatment in postmenopausal women with primary high risk breast cancer

ABSTRACT

Tamoxifen [Nolvadex], an anti-estrogen has been evaluated as an adjuvant to the local treatment of high risk breast cancer postmenopausal women. 79 patients were treated by total mastectomy with either axillary node clearance of axillary node sampling and then 42 patients received tamoxifen 10-15 mg twice daily for 6-24 months and 37 patients received no further treatment. Treatment failure [recurrent disease] at 20 months was reduced in patients receiving tamoxifen [21.4%] compared with controls [37.8%] [P- 0.01]. Subgroup analyses by age, axillarly lymph nodes status did not reveal a significantly different treatment effect in any of these subgroups. Thus, tamoxifen significantly delays recurrence in postmenopausal patients with early high risk primary breast cancer. The magnitude of the effect is comparable with that associated with adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy at a similar follow-up time, but with minimal toxicity