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Topic: Tamoxifen-vs-Arimidex

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  • Posted on: Nov 5, 2009 03:49 pm
Lamoni, IA
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 144
garnetann wrote:

I have been on Tamoxifen for 2 years now.  The chemo put me into menopause and my last period was august 2007.  My oncologist did a FSH & LH test on me today to determine if I was actually through menopause. He is considering switching me to Arimidex.  He said it was my decision and that arimidex is much more expensive and does not protect my bones like tamoxifen does. I had a hard time with tamoxifen starting out, but I do fine on it now.  Does anyone out there have any advice on why arimidex would be better since there are a lot of postmenopausel people on tamoxifen. I mean why fix it if it is not broken?

thanks

"MAN'S FLIGHT THROUGH LIFE IS SUSTAINED BY THE POWER OF HIS KNOWLEDGE."
Diagnosis: 6/1/2007, IDC, 1cm, Stage I, Grade 2, 0/5 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-
Posts 1 - 3 (3 total)
ivorymom
St Paul, MN
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 764
Nov 5, 2009 03:55 pm ivorymom wrote:

Garnetann - this is my understanding, which could be faulty:  Comparisons of women treated with Tamox vs AIs tend to show a slight improvement with AIs vs Tamox. Thus, for post-meno women, it's considered a given that AIs are better than Tamox in terms of cutting recurrence risk.

That said, my onc told me about a study she is following that enrolled about 1,800 women.  I assume they were split evenly between Tamox and AIs.  The twist here was that the Tamox women were tested to see how well they were metabolizing Tamox.  The Tamox women were classified as extensive, intermediate, or poor metabolizers of Tamox.  When the poor-metabolizers are excluded, it seems for now that the Tamox group does as well as the AI group.

meg
Diagnosis: 2/8/2009, IDC, <1cm, Stage Ib, Grade 3, 0/2 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-
revkat
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 406
Nov 5, 2009 04:09 pm revkat wrote:

I would also like to know how being put into chemopause as opposed to being in menopause might affect things. I've read a few things that indicated going into chemopause was a good thing, but the fact is we had premenopausal breast cancer even if we are menopausal now so I wonder if it responds differently to hormonals than postmenopausal bc. Does anyone know of any studies on the premenopausal put into chemopausal population?

I am also dealing with an onco who wants me to switch from tamox to an AI. But since I am doing well on Tamox I really don't want to change anything for just a tiny improvement. I've tried to figure out what the % of improvement would be using the recent study that showed the difference in 9 year survival based on how well you metabolize the tamox, but I can't find 9 year stats for AIs! I'm eager to hear about the study Meg mentioned turns out.


Diagnosis: 1/28/2008, IDC, 2cm, Stage II, Grade 2, 1/20 nodes, ER+, HER2-
KerryMac
North York, ON
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,699
Nov 5, 2009 04:41 pm, edited Nov 5, 2009 04:42 PM by KerryMac KerryMac wrote:

There is a study I read somewhere that 2-3 years on tamox followed by 2-3 years on Aromasin was better than 5 years on Tamox alone. My Onc said Aromasin was usually given after Tamoxifen. Switching to Aromasin may be your best course of action.

Kerry - Mx, Chemo, Rads, Ooph, Arimidex, Zometa
Diagnosis: 11/2008, IDC, 6cm+, Stage IIIa, Grade 3, 6/11 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

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