Research update. Letrezole use for 10 years post breast cancer.
Below is a link to the original article. I realize that links don't live forever, so I've copied the article. I am currently on Letrezole.... and having bone pain. --Although that is something I'll be discussing with the doctor at Friday's appointment. Remember there are no easy answers... so a way to prolong life, also has side effects... pain, and reduced bone density. I'm grateful that I've drank as much milk as I have during the past decades. Hopefully, that will help strengthen my bones during this treatment.
This also shows how treatments can cross from one cancer to another. I'm not sure there are any official treatments for my cancer, it is just too rare... so we keep trying new and interesting treatments.
Washington Post Article about breast cancer and Letrezole
Extending anti-estrogen therapy to 10 years reduces breast-cancer recurrence, new cancers
CHICAGO — Researchers said extending hormone therapy to 10 years reduces the risk of a recurrence of breast cancer in many older women and decreases the chance of a new cancer emerging in the other, healthy breast.
The study, which was released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, involved post-menopausal women who had a type of early-stage breast cancer known as hormone receptor-positive. That means the cancer was driven by estrogen, progesterone or both.
The data showed that women benefited from taking the drug letrozole, part of a class of estrogen-reducers called aromatase inhibitors, for 10 years. Typically, that kind of drug is taken for five years, sometimes after a course of another hormone therapy, tamoxifen.
While many women with early-stage breast cancer live for a long time, they “face an indefinite risk of relapse,” said the study's lead author, Paul Goss, director of breast cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said the new research "provides direction for many patients and their doctors, confirming that prolonging aromatase inhibitor therapy can further reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrences."
[Large study of 'liquid biopsies' shows promise of being alternative to traditional biopsies]
However, women who were treated with the drug for a total 10 years didn't live longer than those who were given a placebo in the study. Goss said at a news briefing on Sunday that he's confident a survival benefit will emerge in the data in coming years.
The results of the study were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, which also featured an editorial calling the study "reassuring" and saying that "the findings have direct application for clinical practice."
But some experts were cautious about predicting changes in treatment strategies. Letrozole has side effects, and the women who took it for a prolonged period as part of the study suffered more bone pain, fractures and the onset of osteoporosis compared with the women who didn't get the drug.
[Here's what men need to know about the 'breast-cancer gene']
Those side effects, as well as the absence of a survival benefit, means doctors and patients will have to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of taking an aromatase inhibitor for a decade, said J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society who wasn't involved in the research. The study itself, he said, does not offer "as clear a result as one might like."
Claudine Isaacs, a medical oncologist at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the data was long-awaited by clinicians who wondered whether prolonged treatment with aromatase inhibitors would be beneficial and safe for patients.
“This gives us data to take back to the clinic to talk to our patients about,” said Isaacs, who led Lombardi's participation in the study. “If I had a patient who doesn’t have side effects from this therapy and has a higher risk of recurrence, I’d consider extending it — or at least having an informed discussion with her.”
The study enrolled 1,918 postmenopausal women in the randomized Phase 3 trial. All had taken letrozole for about 5 years; some also had been treated previously with tamoxifen. Half of the women were given a daily pill of letrozole for an additional 5 years, while the rest were put on a placebo. At a six-year followup, a total of 165 women had experienced a recurrence of breast cancer or developed a new cancer in the opposite breast. Of those, 67 were in the letrozole group while 98 were in the placebo group.
That meant the risk of disease recurrence and new cancer was 34 percent lower among women who continued the aromatase inhibitor for 10 years compared with the other group, researchers said. Looked at another way, 95 percent of the women in the letrozole group experienced disease-free survival for five years, compared with 91 percent in the placebo group.
This also shows how treatments can cross from one cancer to another. I'm not sure there are any official treatments for my cancer, it is just too rare... so we keep trying new and interesting treatments.
Washington Post Article about breast cancer and Letrezole
Extending anti-estrogen therapy to 10 years reduces breast-cancer recurrence, new cancers
CHICAGO — Researchers said extending hormone therapy to 10 years reduces the risk of a recurrence of breast cancer in many older women and decreases the chance of a new cancer emerging in the other, healthy breast.
The study, which was released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, involved post-menopausal women who had a type of early-stage breast cancer known as hormone receptor-positive. That means the cancer was driven by estrogen, progesterone or both.
The data showed that women benefited from taking the drug letrozole, part of a class of estrogen-reducers called aromatase inhibitors, for 10 years. Typically, that kind of drug is taken for five years, sometimes after a course of another hormone therapy, tamoxifen.
While many women with early-stage breast cancer live for a long time, they “face an indefinite risk of relapse,” said the study's lead author, Paul Goss, director of breast cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said the new research "provides direction for many patients and their doctors, confirming that prolonging aromatase inhibitor therapy can further reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrences."
[Large study of 'liquid biopsies' shows promise of being alternative to traditional biopsies]
However, women who were treated with the drug for a total 10 years didn't live longer than those who were given a placebo in the study. Goss said at a news briefing on Sunday that he's confident a survival benefit will emerge in the data in coming years.
The results of the study were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, which also featured an editorial calling the study "reassuring" and saying that "the findings have direct application for clinical practice."
But some experts were cautious about predicting changes in treatment strategies. Letrozole has side effects, and the women who took it for a prolonged period as part of the study suffered more bone pain, fractures and the onset of osteoporosis compared with the women who didn't get the drug.
[Here's what men need to know about the 'breast-cancer gene']
Those side effects, as well as the absence of a survival benefit, means doctors and patients will have to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of taking an aromatase inhibitor for a decade, said J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society who wasn't involved in the research. The study itself, he said, does not offer "as clear a result as one might like."
Claudine Isaacs, a medical oncologist at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the data was long-awaited by clinicians who wondered whether prolonged treatment with aromatase inhibitors would be beneficial and safe for patients.
“This gives us data to take back to the clinic to talk to our patients about,” said Isaacs, who led Lombardi's participation in the study. “If I had a patient who doesn’t have side effects from this therapy and has a higher risk of recurrence, I’d consider extending it — or at least having an informed discussion with her.”
The study enrolled 1,918 postmenopausal women in the randomized Phase 3 trial. All had taken letrozole for about 5 years; some also had been treated previously with tamoxifen. Half of the women were given a daily pill of letrozole for an additional 5 years, while the rest were put on a placebo. At a six-year followup, a total of 165 women had experienced a recurrence of breast cancer or developed a new cancer in the opposite breast. Of those, 67 were in the letrozole group while 98 were in the placebo group.
That meant the risk of disease recurrence and new cancer was 34 percent lower among women who continued the aromatase inhibitor for 10 years compared with the other group, researchers said. Looked at another way, 95 percent of the women in the letrozole group experienced disease-free survival for five years, compared with 91 percent in the placebo group.
I met a friend of yours today and I was sharing my story of LMS she told me about you and your blog. I was diagnosed with LMS in February of 2015. I am currently cancer free and have had a complete hysterectomy. I sought a second opinion at sloan Kettering in NYC with Dr Martee Hensley. She informed me that my cancer tested positive to both estrogen and progesterone receptors so I am currently taking anastrozole 1 mg daily, and have been for the last 14 months. I too experience pretty severe muscle and joint pain. This has been particularly upsetting as prior to my cancer I was a long distance runner and very active in working out. I still run and still work out just not to the degree I was doing before the medication. I hope you are well and I am happy to speak with someone who is going through a similar experience with the same cancer. I have not met anyone with LMS and currently my oncologist has never treated anyone with LMS. My OBGYN has only seen one other case in her 30 year history of working. Take care of yourself. Lisa Castin
ReplyDeleteIt is rare and aggressive. My surgeon for the hysterectomy in December, 2014 had done a fellowship with Dr. Hye-Sook Chon at Moffitt Cancer Center. So I was referred directly to her. She's a gynecological sarcoma specialist. With the mets to lungs, liver and lymph nodes, I'm working to reduce the size of the lesions. When doing the informed consent for this round of chemotherapy, she noted that we were not working to cure me, but to manage the cancer.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking I have two years... it gives meaning to the long term and short term goals.