| Tamoxifen, known in the trade as Nolvadex, is | | | | reducing the risk of breast cancer coming back |
| usually prescribed by specialists in breast cancer | | | | after a lumpectomy in women with |
| and is taken in pill form. A patient will stay on the | | | | hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. This |
| drug for about five years. | | | | was true even for women with very small |
| Often the woman's cancer will be tested to see if | | | | cancers. |
| it is sensitive to the amount of oestrogen in the | | | | For pre-menopausal women, tamoxifen is the |
| system. If the cancer is oestrogen sensitive, | | | | best hormonal therapy. But tamoxifen is no longer |
| tamoxifen will be given. | | | | the first choice for post-menopausal women. If |
| Because tamoxifen is such a weak estrogen, its | | | | you've been on tamoxifen for two to three years |
| estrogen signals don't stimulate very much cell | | | | and now you're in menopause, your doctor may |
| growth. And because it has stolen the place away | | | | recommend that you switch to an aromatase |
| from more powerful estrogen, it blocks | | | | inhibitor to finish your five years of hormonal |
| estrogen-stimulated cancer cell growth. In this | | | | therapy. However, you can still get a lot of |
| way, tamoxifen acts like an "anti-estrogen." | | | | benefit if you take tamoxifen for up to five |
| Tamoxifen may also take the place of natural | | | | years and then switch to an aromatase inhibitor. |
| estrogen in the receptors of healthy breast cells. | | | | Tamoxifen was first used to fight breast cancer |
| In that way it holds down growth activity, and | | | | at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, in |
| possibly stops abnormal growth and the | | | | 1969. It has since proved its worth as means of |
| development of a totally new breast cancer. By | | | | stopping the spread or recurrence of the disease |
| blocking natural estrogen from getting to the | | | | in women who have already been treated for it. |
| receptors, tamoxifen is helpful in reducing the risk | | | | But, it was noticed back in the early 1980s that |
| of breast cancer in women at high risk who have | | | | some women who were receiving the drug for |
| never had breast cancer. It also can help women | | | | cancer in one breast did not develop any |
| who have already had breast cancer in one | | | | tumorous growth in the other. This prompted the |
| breast by lowering the risk of a new breast | | | | suggestion that Tamoxifen might have another |
| cancer forming in the other breast. | | | | preventative role for those women who are at |
| One study found that radiation plus tamoxifen | | | | risk of getting breast cancer but have yet to |
| was much better than tamoxifen alone at | | | | develop any signs of the disease. |