Pills Show Promise In Preventing Breast Cancer

Millions of women have a higher risk of breast cancer often have a new option to prevent the disease.

Pfizer Inc. Aromasin reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by more than half, without the side effects dampen the enthusiasm of other drugs prevention, a major study has found.

It was the first test of the new hormones in healthy women called aromatase inhibitors blocking pills, sold as Arimidex, Femara and Aromasin and in generic form. Preventive medications are not recommended for women with an average risk of breast cancer. "That third drug for breast cancer may actually be safer," said Dr. Allen lights, executive director of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The prevention study with 4560 women in the United States, Canada, Spain and France. After about three years, there were 11 cases of invasive breast cancer among children under 32 compared to another drug. The study leader, Dr. Paul Goss of Massachusetts General Hospital showed me that women take 26 exemestane for five years to prevent one case of breast cancer. Although this study did not compare the drug tamoxifen was proposed earlier study of 96 women, would be five years to complete for each breast cancer prevention.

"This is a new option for the prevention of invasive breast cancer in a large number of women" without serious side effects of tamoxifen or raloxifene, Goss said.

A pill of prevention, which means that these reductions of 65 percent the likelihood that they are about 1 percent chance, said Dr. Eric Winer, director of breast cancer at the Dana-Farber Institute Cancer in Boston.

The Canadian Cancer Society has contributed to Pfizer and the Avon Foundation to pay for the study. A second study at the conference focused on the treatment of breast cancer that has spread to lymph nodes. Women with large tumors or cancer many nodes also get radiation to the shoulder and lower neck, but doctors do not know if women with smaller tumors or cancer only 1-3 knots developing countries - a common situation.

All received standard treatment with radiation to the chest, and half had radiation to the armpit and the lower neck.

After about five years, 90 percent of respondents indicated no radiation cancer compared to 84 percent of the other, and there was a trend toward improved survival with more radiation.

The results are "potentially change practice" and encourage physicians to provide gamma radiation, according to Whelan.

The National Cancer Institute and the Canadian Cancer Society paid for the study.

Worldwide, about 1.3 million women with breast cancer are diagnosed each year and about 500,000 women die of this disease. Last year the United States, there were about 207,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths from breast cancer.