In women over 65 with non-metastatic breast cancer, one of the most comprehensive looks at the use of hormone therapy found some welcome news.
Except for frail patients, most participants in the large study complied with their oncologists' recommendations to treat their estrogen-positive breast cancer with hormone therapy — either an aromatase inhibitor or tamoxifen. These drugs prevent tumors from using estrogen to fuel growth.
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But the study, reported online June 16th in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, also found that non-white women were much more likely to not have therapy.
"Women 65 years of age and older comprise about half of patients with breast cancer, but some studies have suggested this group initiates therapy less often and discontinues treatment more frequently than younger or middle aged women," says the study's lead author, Vanessa B. Sheppard, PhD, associate professor of oncology and assistant director of health disparities research at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
![Anti-Malarial Agent can Reverse Resistance to Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen]( "Anti-Malarial Agent can Reverse Resistance to Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen")
A new study has found that adding the inexpensive anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to the treatment strategy can reverse resistance to the widely used breast cancer drug.
"We found a more positive picture of use — although more than half of patients discontinued use before the five years of recommended treatment, non-initiation of starting treatment was only 14 percent," she says. "This is reassuring, as it's important for women to give themselves a chance for the best outcome possible, regardless of their age."The seven-year study was conducted at 78 institutions and clinics in the U.S., enrolling 1,062 elderly women ages 65 to 91 with locally invasive cancer that had not spread.Women in the study judged to be frail or even "prefrail" may well be justified in not starting treatment for their breast cancer compare to women who are more robust or less frail, she says.
"It may be that these women, with the concurrence of their physicians, felt they would not live long enough to benefit from the therapy given competing health conditions, and they also may have wanted to avoid any toxicities from treatment," Dr. Sheppard says. Researchers also found that the discontinuation rate (stopping therapy before five years) was 51.5 percent and that the risk of discontinuation was higher with increasing age and lower for advanced stages of the disease. "This rate of discontinuation is about the same seen in some other studies," she says.
Source: Eurekalert
Anti-Malarial Agent can Reverse Resistance to Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen
A new study has found that adding the inexpensive anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to the treatment strategy can reverse resistance to the widely used breast cancer drug.
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"We found a more positive picture of use — although more than half of patients discontinued use before the five years of recommended treatment, non-initiation of starting treatment was only 14 percent," she says. "This is reassuring, as it's important for women to give themselves a chance for the best outcome possible, regardless of their age."The seven-year study was conducted at 78 institutions and clinics in the U.S., enrolling 1,062 elderly women ages 65 to 91 with locally invasive cancer that had not spread.Women in the study judged to be frail or even "prefrail" may well be justified in not starting treatment for their breast cancer compare to women who are more robust or less frail, she says.
"It may be that these women, with the concurrence of their physicians, felt they would not live long enough to benefit from the therapy given competing health conditions, and they also may have wanted to avoid any toxicities from treatment," Dr. Sheppard says. Researchers also found that the discontinuation rate (stopping therapy before five years) was 51.5 percent and that the risk of discontinuation was higher with increasing age and lower for advanced stages of the disease. "This rate of discontinuation is about the same seen in some other studies," she says.
Source: Eurekalert
Moles Linked to an Increased Risk of Breast Cancer
Two recent studies have found that Cutaneous nevi, commonly known as moles, may be a novel predictor of breast cancer
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 Cut Down On Red Meat To Reduce Breast Cancer Risk, Study SaysA US study says high intake of red meat in early adulthood may increase breast cancer risk. | Advertisement
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