MayoClinic.com provides expert answers about latest breast cancer researc...( ROCHESTER Minn. -- MayoClinic.com to...),Health

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- MayoClinic.com today has posted questions and answers from the lead United States researcher about breast cancer research findings published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. This information has been developed to help people more thoroughly understand the results of an international clinical trial that shows the drug letrozole picks up where tamoxifen leaves off for women who are five years into their treatment for preventing breast cancer recurrence. It can be found at http://mayoclinic.com/goto/?topic=letrozole.

James Ingle, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was the lead United States researcher for the international clinical trial. In Tamoxifen, letrozole and breast cancer: An interview with a Mayo Clinic specialist, MayoClinic.com explains that for women who have been treated for breast cancer and are now cancer-free, hitting the five-year mark may seem like a milestone after which they would be home free. But that's not necessarily the case. More than half of breast cancers that recur do so after the patient has been cancer-free for five years or longer.

It's widely recognized that tamoxifen (Nolvadex) is an effective preventive therapy for the first five years after breast cancer treatment, but it does not provide the same degree of protection after five years. The new study shows that letrozole (Femara) picks up where tamoxifen leaves off.

MayoClinic.com emphasizes that risk of recurrence varies. Women need to decide with their doctors whether additional treatment is the best course of action for them.

The decision whether or not to use letrozole will be based on a number of factors, including an estimate of remaining risk for developing breast cancer. Potential benefits -- possibly cu
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9-Oct-2003

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