TAMOXIFEN IN BREAST CANCER: HOW DOES TAMOXIFEN COMPARE TO OTHER HORMONAL AGENTS?

Several randomized clinical trials have been performed on tamoxifen in postmenopausal patients in order to compare it to other hormonal agents. In one trial tamoxifen was compared to diethylstilbestrol (DES), which during the 1970s was considered the standard initial treatment for postmenopausal patients with breast cancer. Results from these trials were similar to the initial pilot studies and suggested that tamoxifen had approximately the same response rate (31 percent) as DES (33 percent). Both the frequency and the incidence of side effects were much lower in the tamoxifen group. In subsequent clinical trials comparing tamoxifen to several alternative surgical procedures to reduce estrogen levels, tamoxifen produced approximately the same response rates but without the dangers associated with the surgical forms of therapy.

More recently, tamoxifen was compared with another hormonal agent, aminoglutethimide, as treatment for postmenopausal breast cancer patients. Aminoglutethimide acts on the adrenal gland to reduce the amount of estrogen-like substances synthesized and secreted. Again, tamoxifen produced a comparable response rate without many of the side effects produced by the comparison substance.

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Cancer