Free Republic

Canadian Press Toronto — An osteoporosis drug has been found to reduce the incidence of invasive breast cancer in high-risk, post-menopausal women as effectively as tamoxifen, the medication considered the gold standard for warding off the disease over the last two decades. In a head-to-head study, both tamoxifen and raloxifene were found to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer by almost 50 per cent compared with placebo — but raloxifene had far fewer serious side-effects. “This is good news for women,” Dr. Leslie Ford of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, told a teleconference Monday to announce the results of...

AP MEDICAL WRITER KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Women who have higher natural estrogen levels also may have a higher risk of stroke - a novel finding that suggests a possible new way to prevent this deadly disease, doctors reported Friday. More study is needed to confirm these results, but they fit with much of what is already known about hormones, said several experts who were not connected with the new work. "This is really interesting," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, a women's health researcher and chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "These findings would be consistent...