The buzz isn't just buzz now. If you ever read the science/med sites, you might want to read the MedPage announcement that the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) says all women with hormone-receptive breast cancer should be offered ten years of Tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors (AIs). And don't skip the comments.
I have some questions about this decision. Starting with a sentence from a 2009 NCI fact sheet:
Studies have shown that tamoxifen helps prevent the original cancer from returning and also helps to prevent the development of new cancers in the other breast; however, many women develop resistance to the drug over time (1, 2). (italics mine) From Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapy Fact Sheet.
And we still don't know how many women cannot metabolize Tamoxifen completely into endoxifen (hence the new Mayo Clinic study into the possibility of administering endoxifen directly.) Why keep pouring Tamoxifen into those women?
I'm starting to repeat myself and an earlier May post here. This is on my mind with each little white pill.
I wish you health.
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