Study shows Tamoxifen’s ability to reduce breast density may be linked to decreased breast cancer mortality
In an effort to evaluate whether a patient is responding to tamoxifen early on in treatment, researchers have determined that women who show a marked reduction in breast density on mammography during tamoxifen treatment have a 50% decrease in breast cancer mortality.
The study, by researchers from Karolinska Institutet, included nearly 1000 postmenopausal women who previously received breast cancer treatment. Tamoxifen had been administered to almost half of the study participants. The women were followed for an average of 15 years, during which time 121 women (12.4%) had died of cancer.
Study results showed that breast cancer survival was linked to the changes in a patient’s mammographic density between 2 mammograms performed after initiating tamoxifen. Compared with those who showed little or no mammographic density change, women with a density reduction of 20% or more after starting tamoxifen therapy had a 50% decrease in breast cancer mortality over the course of 15 years.
According to Per Hall, Professor at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, “Measuring changes in density can be a simple and cheap means of assessing the effect of the treatment. If a patient is not responding to tamoxifen, maybe they should be given a different drug.”
Source: Karolinska Institutet.