Significance of Ovarian Function Suppression in Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer in Pre-Menopausal Women.

Significance of Ovarian Function Suppression in Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer in Pre-Menopausal Women. Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2016 May;76(5):516-524 Authors: Scharl A, Salterberg A Abstract Ovarian function suppression (OFS) for treating breast cancer in pre-menopausal women was introduced for the first time in the late 19th century as bilateral oophorectomy. It was not until the 1960s that the oestrogen receptor was identified and a test for detecting endocrine sensitivity of the breast cancer was developed. A weakness of early trials on OFS for breast cancer treatment is therefore their failure to take receptor sensitivity into account when selecting participants. A meta-analysis performed in the early 1990s first proved that adjuvant OFS significantly improved the cure rate of oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in pre-menopausal women regardless of whether it was carried out through oophorectomy, radiation-induced ablation or drug therapy. In the 1970s, tamoxifen was synthesized. It became one of the most important cancer drugs and today constitutes the gold standard for endocrine adjuvant therapy. Taking tamoxifen for a five-year period lowers mortality by 30 % over 15 years. Ten years of tamoxifen therapy reduces mortality even further, with increased side effects, however. Research over the past ten years has proven that for post-menopausal women, aromatase inhibitors have benefits over tamoxifen. Current tri...
Source: Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde - Category: OBGYN Tags: Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd Source Type: research