Free Republic

A hormone therapy for breast cancer can reduce the chances of deadly spread of the disease by nearly a fifth, according to new trial findings. Women given the aromatase inhibitor exemestane after surgery were 19% less likely to suffer metastatic, or spreading, cancer than those receiving standard treatment. Cancer is most deadly when it travels around the body, affecting vital organs such as the brain or liver. Each year more than 45,600 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the UK and the disease kills around 12,300 women. Exemestane, marketed as Aromasin, works by shutting off production of the...

Drugs that completely block estrogen can lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women after surgery, according to the latest study to suggest that some women can improve their chances of recovering from breast cancer with aromatase inhibitors. The study followed more than 4,700 women who took tamoxifen, the most common treatment for preventing recurrences of breast cancer. But women who switched to the estrogen-blocker exemestane two and a half years later cut their chances of developing another tumor by a third. Taking exemestane, which is sold under the brand name aromasin by Pfizer, also provided better protection...