Is tamoxifen used for ER positive breast cancer?

Adjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer: Tamoxifen is FDA approved for adjuvant hormone treatment of premenopausal and postmenopausal women (and men) with ER-positive early-stage breast cancer, and the aromatase inhibitors anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane are approved for this use in postmenopausal women.

Is Arimidex better than tamoxifen?

Earlier ATAC results found that Arimidex was more effective than tamoxifen in reducing the risk of recurrence of early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Other studies comparing tamoxifen to the other two aromatase inhibitors (Aromasin and Femara) have shown similar results.

Is tamoxifen the best breast cancer drug?

Tamoxifen is a highly effective breast cancer treatment. It may significantly lower your risk of breast cancer recurrence or invasive breast cancer. People who are at high risk for breast cancer may take tamoxifen to reduce their chances of getting the disease.

Does tamoxifen stop cancer from spreading?

For women with hormone-positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, tamoxifen can often help slow or stop the growth of the cancer, and might even shrink some tumors.

Is tamoxifen worth the side effects?

Wesolowski advises that benefits of taking the drug need to be carefully weighed against risks. “In general, tamoxifen for five years reduces the probability of breast cancer recurrence by almost 50 percent, while risks of serious side effects are at around 1 percent or less,” he explained.

Which has worse side effects tamoxifen or anastrozole?

They also looked at the side effects and found that overall anastrozole caused fewer side effects than tamoxifen. The women taking anastrozole were less likely to have problems with vaginal bleeding and discharge, blood clots in the veins (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT) and hot flushes.

What is the success rate of tamoxifen?

(Some women, however, receive tamoxifen followed by an aromatase inhibitor over a 5-year period.)…Ten Years of Tamoxifen Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrences, Improves Survival.

5 Years 10 Years
Risk of Recurrence 25.1 percent 21.4 percent
Risk of Death from Breast Cancer 15.0 percent 12.2 percent

Can tamoxifen cause weight gain?

Some even call it the “backbone” of breast cancer treatment. Even with all that fanfare, tamoxifen has been loosely associated with weight gain. Studies have tracked weight gain and other side effects of the drug for years. Some resources even list weight gain as a possible side effect.