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← Return to Recovery time after Anastrozole/aromatase inhibitors
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Recovery time after Anastrozole/aromatase inhibitors
Breast Cancer | Last Active: 43 minutes ago | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
@barbbillas
I have been told that tamoxifen is for premenopausal patients. But the research I have read doesn’t actually say that. I worked on editing and proofreading the drug insert as part of my job back in the early 2000s. Tamoxifen trials were very successful. That was before the AI drugs were introduced. I have often wondered if the effectiveness of AIs for post menopausal patients is significant enough to justify the side effects. What have your doctors said about this issue?
Replies to "@barbbillas I have been told that tamoxifen is for premenopausal patients. But the research I have..."
@dmr4ever I’m postmenopausal, 68 at diagnosis, and on tamoxifen. The oncologist said I could choose tamoxifen or AI. This came from a highly recognized comprehensive cancer center in 2022.
My understanding of the research is that AIs have a slight, yet statistically significant, better outcome in postmenopausal women. A statistically significant number can be very small, and in this case I felt not a big enough difference to choose an AI.
Although, whether HER2 is positive or negative might affect the outcomes, making an AI a better choice.
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@dmr4ever u
Yes, Tamoxifen is for premenopausal women as it acts on the ovaries to reduce estrogen production. Post menopausal women's ovaries have naturally reduced production. The AI meds target aromatase, an enzyme that helps convert testerone to estrogen. So it's a double whammy of reducing estrogen to almost nothing with debilitating effects for many women.
AI meds do have a greater efficiency for post menopausal women according to studies. But if there's no quality of life due to side effects, it wasn't worth it for me. My oncologist switched me to Tamoxifen as it still provides a benefit to reduce recurrence, while leaving me with some estrogen to get through life.
There are good academic studies on Pubmed. They were pretty easy to find. Also, if you ask Google Gemini "Tamoxifen vs Aromatase Inhibitors with citations", it may bring up those studies.