what type of treatment are tamoxifen and arimidex

Full Answer

What is the difference between Arimidex and tamoxifen?

Arimidex and tamoxifen belong to different drug classes. Arimidex is a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor and tamoxifen is a nonsteroidal antiestrogen. Brand names for tamoxifen include Nolvadex and Soltamox, Nolvadex. What Are Possible Side Effects of Arimidex? rash, especially during the first few days as your body adjusts to this medication.

Can Arimidex be used to treat breast cancer?

Arimidex (anastrozole) and tamoxifen are used to treat breast cancer. Arimidex is used in postmenopausal women and is often given to women whose cancer has progressed even after taking tamoxifen.

Can anastrozole replace tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer?

Tamoxifen is an effective second-line therapy after anastrozole. Our data, together with the better tolerability profile of anastrozole compared with tamoxifen, support the use of anastrozole as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive tumors.

How often should I take tamoxifen?

Tamoxifen comes in both pill and liquid form and is usually taken once per day. Aromatase inhibitors are the other main type of hormonal therapy medicine and are approved to treat only postmenopausal women.

Is Arimidex chemotherapy or hormone therapy?

ARIMIDEX is a hormonal treatment (also called hormonal therapy), not a cytotoxic chemotherapy. It works by reducing the amount of estrogen produced by your body.

Is tamoxifen chemo or hormone therapy?

Tamoxifen is an effective hormone therapy used to treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. It can greatly reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and invasive cancer.

What type of treatment is Arimidex?

Arimidex (chemical name: anastrozole) is an aromatase inhibitor used to treat all stages of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

What type of therapy is tamoxifen?

Tamoxifen (brand names: Nolvadex, Soltamox) is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) used to treat all stages of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in women and men.

Is tamoxifen considered active treatment?

For breast cancer, as long as the patient is using Tamoxifen, Arimidex, or any other means of prolonged adjuvant therapy, then it is considered active.

Is anastrozole a form of chemotherapy?

Is anastrozole (Arimidex) a type of chemotherapy? Anastrozole (Arimidex) is considered a hormone therapy rather than a traditional chemotherapy medication. Chemotherapy is used to target and kill cancer cells, whereas anastrozole (Arimidex) is used to lower estrogen in the body.

Is anastrozole endocrine therapy?

Anastrozole is a nonsteroidal, third-generation aromatase inhibitor, which is heralded as an effective alternative endocrine therapy to tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with hormone-responsive breast cancer.

What class of drug is anastrozole?

Anastrozole is in a class of medications called nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors. It works by decreasing the amount of estrogen the body makes. This can slow or stop the growth of many types of breast cancer cells that need estrogen to grow.

Is Arimidex a bisphosphonate?

One is Anastrozole (ArimidexR) as an aromatase inhibitor, and the other is Alendronate (BonalonR) as a bisphosphonate medicine. We investigated the change of BMD, calcium, bone absorption marker like NTX, I-CTP.

Is tamoxifen an immunotherapy?

In addition to indicating that tamoxifen may be used as an immunotherapy in patients with ER-negative tumors, the findings highlight that patient stratification should consider drug responsiveness in cells of the tumor microenvironment as well as drug sensitivity of the tumor cells.

What is endocrine treatment?

Listen to pronunciation. (EN-doh-krin THAYR-uh-pee) Treatment that adds, blocks, or removes hormones. For certain conditions (such as diabetes or menopause), hormones are given to adjust low hormone levels.

Is tamoxifen an aromatase inhibitor?

Tamoxifen — a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) — is one of the most well-known. Both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women can take tamoxifen. Doctors now prescribe these three aromatase inhibitors more often than they prescribe tamoxifen for women who've gone through menopause.

What are the side effects of tamoxifen?

Women who took tamoxifen had more: ovarian, endometrial, and skin cancers. blood clots. hot flashes.

How to treat DCIS?

DCIS usually is treated with surgery to remove the cancer -- lumpectomy in many cases. After surgery, many women have radiation therapy to reduce the risk of DCIS coming back (recurrence). If the DCIS is hormone-receptor-positive (most are), hormonal therapy also usually is recommended after surgery. Of the adjuvant hormonal therapy choices, ...

Is Arimidex better than Tamoxifen?

Still, when the researchers looked at recurrence risk reduction in women younger than 60, they found that Arimidex was slightly better than tamoxifen.

Does tamoxifen reduce cancer risk?

The studies found that Arimidex and tamoxifen both reduced the risk of recurrence (the cancer coming back) about the same amount, but there were differences in side effects between the two medicines. The studies were presented on Dec. 11, 2015 at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and published at the same time in The Lancet.

Is Aromasin a generic drug?

Aromasin (chemical name: exemestane) Femara (chemical name: letrozole) Each is a pill, usually taken once a day. All three are available as generic medicines. Two studies looked at the effectiveness and side effects of Arimidex and tamoxifen to reduce recurrence risk after DCIS surgery and radiation in postmenopausal women.

Does arimidex cause vaginal dryness?

Women taking Arimidex had more muscle and joint pain, and this pain didn’t lessen over time. Arimidex also caused more vaginal dryness and this symptom was worse in younger women. “Both medicines were well tolerated,” said Dr. Ganz, “but younger women had more side effects.

Does tamoxifen help with DCIS?

If you’re a postmenopausal woman who has been diagnosed with DCIS and your doctor is recommending hormonal therapy after surgery and radiation, these two studies offer strong, reassuring evidence that both tamoxifen and Arimidex are equally effective at reducing the risk of DCIS recurrence as well as the risk of being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

What are the side effects of Arimidex?

dizziness. mood changes, such as depression. carpal tunnel syndrome (a nerve condition that affects your wrist), which may cause pain, tingling, or numbness in your hand. * This is a partial list of mild side effects of Arimidex.

What happens when you stop taking Arimidex?

When you stop taking Arimidex, the drug that’s left in your body will be gradually broken down by your liver. How long Arimidex stays in your system can vary from person to person. But most of the drug is usually removed from your body within about 10 days.

How much does Arimidex increase survival?

The survival rates after using certain hormone therapies for early breast cancer were looked at in one review of breast cancer studies. (With early breast cancer, the cancer hasn’t spread out of either your breast or the lymph nodes in your armpit.)

How much does Arimidex lower your estrogen?

Arimidex can lower your estrogen level by about 70% after 24 hours following your dose of the drug. The level will typically be lowered by about 80% after you’ve taken Arimidex every day for 2 weeks. Your estrogen level may stay this low for up to 6 days after you stop taking Arimidex.

Will I have any permanent damage after using Arimidex?

It’s not likely that you will. In fact, side effects of Arimidex usually go away once you’ve stopped taking the drug.

What is the FDA approved for?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves prescription drugs such as Arimidex to treat certain conditions. Arimidex may also be used off-label for other conditions. Off-label use is when a drug that’s approved to treat one condition is used to treat a different condition.

How long does it take for pain to start after taking tamoxifen?

(Aromatase inhibitors are a class of medications.) On average, joint pain seems to begin about 6 weeks after starting an aromatase inhibitor.

1. How it works

Arimidex is a brand (trade) name for anastrozole, a medication that may be used in the treatment of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

2. Upsides

Used in addition to other medications to treat hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer in postmenopausal women.May also be used to treat hormone receptor unknown locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

3. Downsides

If you are between the ages of 18 and 60, take no other medication or have no other medical conditions, side effects you are more likely to experience include:

4. Bottom Line

Arimidex is a medication that may be used to treat postmenopausal breast cancer and works by lowering estrogen levels in the body. It is usually taken for five years and hot flushes are the most common side effect. It reduces the risk of breast cancer by 53% after 7 years follow up and 50% after 10.9 years follow up.

5. Tips

Take Arimidex every day for as long as your doctor has recommended you take it for (five years is the usual length of treatment).

6. Response and effectiveness

Arimidex reduces the risk of breast cancer by 53% after 7 years follow up and 50% after 10.9 years follow up.

7. Interactions

Medicines that interact with Arimidex may either decrease its effect, affect how long it works for, increase side effects, or have less of an effect when taken with Arimidex. An interaction between two medications does not always mean that you must stop taking one of the medications; however, sometimes it does.