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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Raloxifene Again Found to Deter Breast Cancer in
Older Women, plus Vertebral Fractures
But study finds increased problems of
blood clots and fatal strokes
July 17, 2006 As several earlier major studies
have determined, the latest research on the raloxifene confirms its
ability to deter breast cancer. The new report in the July 13 issue of
the New England Journal of Medicine focuses on postmenopausal women with
a history or high risk of heart disease. The study of 10,000 women for
more than five years found raloxifene not only reduced the incidence of
breast cancer but also vertebral fractures. The surprising bad news is
it produced increased problems of blood clots and fatal strokes.
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Weight Gain May Increase Risk of Breast Cancer in
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July 11, 2006 - Weight gain, particularly after
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Tamoxifen and Raloxifene Both Guard Against Invasive
Breast Cancer, But
Raloxifene the rising star says editorial in JAMA
June 5, 2006 - Raloxifene and tamoxifen are both
effective in reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer, but each has
potential disease and quality of life side effects that women and their
physicians will need to consider, according to two reports and an
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Older Women with Early Breast Cancer have Better
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June 3, 2006 - New data from the Intergroup
Exemestane Study (IES) showed for the first time today that hormone
sensitive postmenopausal early breast cancer patients who switched to
Aromasin after 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen were 17% more likely to be
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who continued on tamoxifen for a full 5 years of therapy. The news was
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Success of Raloxifene to Prevent Breast Cancer is
Encouraging for Senior Women
Osteoporosis drug
Raloxifene as effective as Tamoxifen without side effects
April 19, 2006 The study released Monday showing
the drug raloxifene, currently used to prevent and treat osteoporosis in
postmenopausal women, works as well as tamoxifen in reducing breast
cancer risk, without some of the side effects, is encouraging news for
female senior citizens, who are at the highest risk of breast cancer.
The disease is expected to strike 213,000 American women this year, with
the majority being over 50 years of age. The results show less uterine
cancer and blood clots from raloxifene.
Read more...
Read more
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Health & Medicine |
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The study definitely showed mixed results. On the
positive side, raloxifene therapy reduced invasive breast cancer by 44
percent with 1.2 fewer cases per 1000 women treated for one year.
Raloxifene has anti-estrogenic effects in the breast, inhibiting the
growth of estrogen-stimulated breast cancer. It also reduced painful
vertebral fractures by 35% with 1.3 fewer cases per 1000 women.
On the other hand, use of raloxifene was shown to
raise the risk of blood clots by 44%, or 1.2 cases per 1000 women
treated for one year. Additionally, 59 of the 5,044 raloxifene users had
fatal strokes, compared to only 39 of the half on placebo, an absolute
increase of 0.7 cases per 1000 women treated for one year, or a 49
percent greater risk of stroke-related death though there was no
significant difference in the total number of stroke episodes.
The multi-site international study was headed by
Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, M.D., Professor of Family and Preventive
Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of
Medicine.
The breast cancer prevention benefits may not
justify the risks of taking raloxifene for some patients, especially
those already prone to heart problems, because of the risk related to
other diseases, said Barrett-Connor, who added that women should talk
about risks with their doctors.
Doctors had thought that raloxifene might help
prevent heart problems, because it lowers cholesterol levels.
However, the study showed that raloxifene therapy
did not significantly reduce the risk of coronary events such as heart
attack, hospitalization or death in the clinical trial group assigned to
raloxifene therapy, made up of women with previous established or proven
risk of heart disease.
Raloxifene is a non-steroidal selective
estrogen-receptor modulator (SERM) produced by Eli Lilly. The drug is
sold as Evista for preventing and treating osteoporosis, and has also
been tested by doctors as an alternative to tamoxifen for preventing
breast cancer in a previous trial.
Tamoxifen is a SERM that has been used to treat
both early and advanced breast cancer for more than three decades
The Raloxifene Use for the Heart (RUTH) trial began
in 1998 to determine the effects of the drug on clinical coronary events
in women with or at increased risk for coronary heart disease. Eligible
participants were women age 55 years or older, who were at least one
year postmenopausal, and had established or risk factors for heart
disease such as clogged arteries, high blood pressure or cholesterol
level, smoking or diabetes. Women at 177 sites in 26 countries were
randomly assigned to treatment or placebo.
After an average of five years, the RUTH study
showed that deaths and major heart problems were about the same in both
the group receiving raloxifene and those taking a placebo. Raloxifene
users experienced one-third fewer cases of breast cancer and about half
the number of invasive breast cancers.
Results of Earlier Studies
Reports published June 5 online by the Journal of
the American Medical Association said raloxifene and tamoxifen were both
effective in reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer, but each has
potential disease and quality of life side effects that women and their
physicians will need to consider.
There were fewer cases of noninvasive breast cancer
in the tamoxifen group (57 cases) than in the raloxifene group (80
cases), while there were 36 cases of uterine cancer with tamoxifen and
23 with raloxifene; however, neither of these differences were
statistically significant.
No differences were found for other invasive cancer
sites, for ischemic heart disease events, or for stroke.
Thromboembolic events (such as blood clots in the
lung or deep veins) occurred less often in the raloxifene group and
there were fewer cataracts and cataracts surgeries in that group.
The number of osteoporotic fractures in the two
groups was similar. There were no differences in the total number of
deaths or in causes of death.
An early study in April also found raloxifene works
as well as tamoxifen in reducing breast cancer risk, without some of the
side effects. This study also found less uterine cancer and blood clots
from raloxifene.
"Today, we can tell you that for postmenopausal
women at increased risk of breast cancer, raloxifene is just as
effective, without some of the serious side effects known to occur with
tamoxifen," said Norman Wolmark, M.D., Chairman of the National Surgical
Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, a network of cancer research
professionals that sponsored this trial. It is sponsored by the National
Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Women taking either drug, in this study, had
equivalent numbers of strokes, heart attacks, and bone fractures.
The mixed results of the studies make it vital that
women talk with their doctors about treatment options, and weigh the
risk/benefit ratio in light of their own health history, according to
the authors of today's report.
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