← Return to Ibrance and Letrozole: Newly Diagnosed Treatment

Discussion

Ibrance and Letrozole: Newly Diagnosed Treatment

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jan 22, 2023 | Replies (104)

Comment receiving replies
@raebaby

He just said if I didn't feel good taking it, he wouldn't push it. I believe one's chances of not getting cancer are improved by about 3 percent taking anti-estrogens.
As it is, I feel really happy. I like this feeling rather than having a few extra years of life but feeling really sad.

Jump to this post


Replies to "He just said if I didn't feel good taking it, he wouldn't push it. I believe..."

Risk varies for all of us, in terms of not doing anti-estrogens. You must have had a low Oncotype score with a risk of 3%. That's great!

Raebaby , I believe I have already asked why chemo and rad has been recommended after lumpectomy ?
I have my bilateral lumpectomy a year ago and wasn’t chemo of rad done .
As a matter of fact I have read that radiation could worsened heart conditions ,that is a case for my( arrhythmia) !
I better keep my heart ticking , than waiting for the cancer reoccurrence!
Therefore, at 82 I settled for Tamoxifen 1/2 ( just for possible prevention) , better than nothing .
And exercise the holistic approach to boost my immunity.
No estrogen might affect endometriosis organs for possible cancer ( so I watched)
Other than that I am with you on your life tactics !!

I've been told by oncologists that the current thinking is that anti-hormone therapy can reduce the risk of loco-regional recurrence by an estimated 42-45%, which usually is called 50% for simplicity, over 5 years. That is a mean ("average") reduction. For someone with a personal high risk of recurrence, a 45% reduction is a big advantage for Team Anti-Hormone Therapy.

For someone with a very low risk, it's not as substantial. [My risk, IF the OncotypeDX test is valid, 'could' be reduced from 5% to 3% if I took the drugs. If anastrozole could reduce risk of recurrence to 0%, I'd have to reconsider not taking it.]

But my risk reduction from 5% to 3%, while a big 40% reduction, is only a small two percentage points.

I've seen doctors confuse percentage with percentage points so just want to clarify this point and restate that the "average" risk of recurrence is currently thought to be ~45% over 5 years for women with breast cancer taking anti-hormone therapy.