Breast Cancer Can Be Prevented by Inhibiting Drugs Estrogen's Performance

According to a study of women who had breast cancer was then cured at higher risk for developing cancer again, especially if dense breasts. Luckily, a new review finds that a drug that can inhibit the performance of the hormone estrogen (one of the causes of breast condensed) is proven to reduce the risk of breast cancer, even up to 10 years.

In detail, researchers found women who had entered the post-menopausal period and were asked to consume selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as tamoxifen, raloxifene, and lasofoxifene arzoxifene 38 percent less chance of developing any type of breast cancer within the next 10 years compared with women who were not taking SERMs.

The conclusion was obtained by researchers observed 9 studies involving more than 83,000 female patients. Eight studies comparing consumption among SERMs with placebo, while the remainder of the study compared the effectiveness of raloxifene and tamoxifen.

From there, researchers found 4.2 percent of women taking SERMs breast cancer, while women who did not eat anything but the same cancer accounted for 6.3 percent. Even the most risk reduction seen in breast cancer patients with estrogen receptor positive, in which breast cancer is caused by estrogen.

"These reviews prove any kind of drugs belonging to the SERMs can indeed prevent breast cancer in women," concluded Dr. V. Craig Jordan, director of oncology at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, USA.

Jordan himself has conducted a number of studies in the 1970s and found that tamoxifen can prevent cancer development in the rat mammary gland. But Jordan was not involved in the new study.

"But only tamoxifen and raloxifene are FDA approved to prevent breast cancer. From both tamoxifen was only allowed to be used in post-menopausal women at high risk of developing breast cancer," said Jordan.

The problem is, these drugs also cause a number of side effects that cause women are reluctant to eat them. Side effects in question include the emergence of symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes and vaginal drying.

Other serious side effects from the use of SERMs is an increased risk of endometrial cancer or uterine wall. Among the participants, endometrial cancer is the most commonly found in patients taking SERMs, but not many in number or approximately 168 patients only. In addition, these drugs also risk of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT).

Jordan also emphasized that in one vital experiment in this study are reviewed, proved both raloxifene and tamoxifen can reduce breast cancer risk in women by 50 percent, but only women taking tamoxifen alone who continue to show a decline in risk after having stopped taking the drug .

This new study also shows that only tamoxifen can reduce the risk of ductal carcinoma in situ (pre-cancerous conditions such as the emergence of abnormal cells in the milk ducts in the breast). "Other drugs can not do this. Yet until now there is no expert who knows why only tamoxifen can actually reduce DCIS," said Jordan.