Exemestane is a hormone therapy drug used to treat breast cancer in women who have gone through a natural menopause (when periods stop). It can also be used in premenopausal women having ovarian suppression (treatment to stop the ovaries working). You may also hear it called Aromasin, which is its best-known brand name.
Full Answer
When should I take exemestane for breast cancer?
Exemestane is usually given after surgery to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back or spreading. If you’re having chemotherapy or radiotherapy, your specialist will tell you when it’s best to start exemestane.
Can SERMs be used to treat metastatic breast cancer?
Two SERMs, tamoxifen and toremifene, are approved to treat metastatic breast cancer. The antiestrogen fulvestrant is approved for postmenopausal women with metastatic ER-positive breast cancer that has spread after treatment with other antiestrogens ( 10 ).
How effective is exemestane in the treatment of estrogen deficiency?
Results obtained using a very specific and sensitive analytical method (high performance liquid chromatography-radioimmunoassay; HPLC-RIA) indicated that exemestane is extremely effective in inhibiting plasma estrogens levels.
How effective is breast cancer treatment?
Breast cancer treatment is most effective when all parts of the treatment plan are followed as prescribed. Aromatase inhibitors are prescribed for 5-10 years. The length of this treatment along with side effects can make it tough to complete treatment. Dealing with menopausal symptoms related to hormone therapy can be hard.
What type of breast cancer does fluorouracil treat?
Also called 5-fluorouracil and 5-FU. Treatment with medicines, chemical substances, that kill cancer cells. Also called infiltrating breast cancer.
When should you start hormone therapy for breast cancer?
When is hormone therapy used for breast cancer? Hormone therapy is often used after surgery (as adjuvant therapy) to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Sometimes it is started before surgery (as neoadjuvant therapy). It is usually taken for at least 5 years.
When should I take tamoxifen for breast cancer?
If you've been diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive DCIS, you take tamoxifen for five years after surgery to reduce the risk of being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.
What kind of breast cancer is tamoxifen used for?
Tamoxifen is used mainly to treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (breast cancer with cells that have estrogen and/or progesterone receptors on them). Raloxifene is used mostly to prevent and treat osteoporosis (very weak bones) in post-menopausal women.
When is hormone therapy recommended?
Age. Women who begin hormone therapy at age 60 or older or more than 10 years from the onset of menopause are at greater risk of the above conditions. But if hormone therapy is started before the age of 60 or within 10 years of menopause, the benefits appear to outweigh the risks.
Is hormone therapy better than chemotherapy?
Contrary to the commonly held view, 2 years after diagnosis, hormone therapy, a highly effective breast cancer treatment worsens quality of life to a greater extent and for a longer time, especially in menopausal patients. The deleterious effects of chemotherapy are more transient.
Do all breast cancer patients take tamoxifen?
A study has found that more than 18% of premenopausal women diagnosed with early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer were not taking hormonal therapy as prescribed, including more than 13% who were not taking the medicine at all.
What are the worst side effects of tamoxifen?
Rarely, tamoxifen may cause serious problems such as:Blood clots, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and strokes.Cataracts or other eye problems.Endometrial (uterine) cancer.
Does tamoxifen make you gain weight?
Some even call it the "backbone" of breast cancer treatment. Even with all that fanfare, tamoxifen has been loosely associated with weight gain. Studies have tracked weight gain and other side effects of the drug for years. Some resources even list weight gain as a possible side effect.
Does tamoxifen make you angry?
Contrary to speculation, long-term use of tamoxifen(Nolvadex) does not affect mood or sexual functioning, according to British researchers who studied the use of thisantiestrogenic drug in women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer.
What is the success rate of tamoxifen?
(Some women, however, receive tamoxifen followed by an aromatase inhibitor over a 5-year period.)...Ten Years of Tamoxifen Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrences, Improves Survival.5 Years10 YearsRisk of Recurrence25.1 percent21.4 percentRisk of Death from Breast Cancer15.0 percent12.2 percentMar 20, 2013
Can tamoxifen cause hair loss?
It's not only chemotherapy that causes breast cancer patients to lose their hair. Treatment with endocrine therapy (ie, tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) can also cause hair loss and have a negative impact on quality of life, even when the loss is only mild in severity, a novel study suggests.
How much does tamoxifen reduce breast cancer risk?
In previous trials, daily use of tamoxifen or raloxifene reduced breast cancer risk by approximately 50 percent and 38 percent, respectively, after 5 years of follow-up; both drugs were eventually approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce breast cancer risk.
What age do women have to be to be at risk for breast cancer?
Women were determined to be at increased risk if they had at least one of several risk factors: age 60 years or older ; a history of abnormal breast cell growth or having had a noninvasive lesion known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS); or an elevated 5-year score on the Gail model, a commonly used breast cancer risk model.
What is aromatase inhibitor used for?
Clinical trial results presented at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting showed that the aromatase inhibitor exemestane (Aromasin®)—commonly used to treat early and advanced-stage breast cancer —substantially reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk of developing the disease.
Does exemestane reduce breast cancer risk?
At 3 years of follow-up, women who took exemestane were 65 percent less likely than women who took a placebo to develop breast cancer. This is the largest reduction in risk seen in any of the four large breast cancer prevention trials that have been conducted to date. In previous trials, daily use of tamoxifen or raloxifene reduced breast cancer ...
Who is the principal investigator of the Exemestane trial?
Despite the limited follow-up, the trial's principal investigator, Paul Goss, M.B. BCh, Ph.D. , of Harvard Medical School, said the findings were enough to establish exemestane "as a new option for breast cancer prevention in postmenopausal women.". All women older than 60, who by virtue of their age alone have an increased breast cancer risk, ...
Does exemestane cause DCIS?
Exemestane use also led to statistically significant reductions in the development of DCIS, Dr. Goss said, and the invasive tumors that did develop in women taking exemestane were less aggressive than those in the placebo group.
Does exemestane help with breast cancer?
Exemestane for breast-cancer prevention in postmenopausal women. Exemestane significantly reduced invasive breast cancers in postmenopausal women who were at moderately increased risk for breast cancer. During a median follow-up period of 3 years, exemestane was associated with no serious toxic effects and only minimal changes in health-related ...
Does Exemestane have a toxic effect?
During a median follow-up period of 3 years, exemestane was associated with no serious toxic effects and only minimal changes in health-related quality of life. Exemestane significantly reduced invasive breast cancers in postmenopausal women who were at moderately increased risk for breast cancer. During a median follow-up period ...
How long does breast cancer treatment last?
Breast cancer treatment is most effective when all parts of the treatment plan are followed as prescribed. Aromatase inhibitors are prescribed for 5-10 years. The length of this treatment along with side effects can make it tough to complete treatment.
What hormones are needed for breast cancer?
Hormone receptor-positive breast cancers need estrogen and/or progesterone (female hormones) to grow. Aromatase inhibitors lower estrogen levels in the body by blocking aromatase, an enzyme that converts other hormones into estrogen.
How long does aromatase inhibitor last?
Aromatase inhibitors are prescribed for 5-10 years. The length of this treatment along with side effects can make it tough to complete treatment. Dealing with menopausal symptoms related to hormone therapy can be hard. Talk with your health care provider about ways to ease these and other side effects.
What are the side effects of aromatase inhibitors?
Side Effects of Aromatase Inhibitors. Possible side effects of aromatase inhibitors include muscle pain, joint pain and menopausal symptoms (such as hot flashes). Aromatase inhibitors also cause a loss of bone density. You’ll get a baseline measure of your bone density so changes in your bone density can be monitored.
Is aromatase inhibitor a risk reduction drug?
Aromatase inhibitors have been studied in the risk reduction setting. Findings from randomized controlled trials have shown the aromatase inhibitors exemestane and anastrozole may lower the risk of developing breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk [ 113-114 ].
Can aromatase inhibitors be used for breast cancer?
In general, aromatase inhibitors are only used to treat breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, some premenopausal women may take an aromatase inhibitor when combined with ovarian suppression. Ovarian suppression prevents the ovaries from making estrogen, so a woman becomes postmenopausal.
Does Komen cover IV cancer?
Efforts to increase fairness in drug coverage. Komen supports state and federal efforts to require insurers to provide the same or better coverage for oral cancer drugs as they do for IV cancer drugs. This would help ensure patients have access to affordable, appropriate treatment. Become a Komen Advocacy Insider.
What is the best treatment for ER positive breast cancer?
Hormone therapy is also a treatment option for ER-positive breast cancer that has come back in the breast, chest wall, or nearby lymph nodes after treatment (also called a locoregional recurrence). Two SERMs, tamoxifen and toremifene, are approved to treat metastatic breast cancer.
How to treat hormone sensitive breast cancer?
Several strategies are used to treat hormone-sensitive breast cancer: Blocking ovarian function: Because the ovaries are the main source of estrogen in premenopausal women, estrogen levels in these women can be reduced by eliminating or suppressing ovarian function. Blocking ovarian function is called ovarian ablation.
How long does tamoxifen last?
A common switching strategy used for adjuvant therapy, in which patients take tamoxifen for 2 or 3 years, followed by an aromatase inhibitor for 2 or 3 years, may yield the best balance of benefits and harms of these two types of hormone therapy ( 30 ).
What is a breast tumor that has estrogen and/or progesterone receptors called?
Breast tumors that contain estrogen and/or progesterone receptors are sometimes called hormone receptor positive (HR positive). Most ER-positive breast cancers are also PR positive. Breast cancers that lack ERs are called ER negative, and if they lack both ER and PR they may be called HR negative. Approximately 67%–80% of breast cancers in women ...
What type of cancer is adjuvant hormone therapy?
Decisions about the type and duration of adjuvant hormone therapy are complicated and must be made on an individual basis in consultation with an oncologist. Treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer: Several types of hormone therapy are approved to treat metastatic or recurrent hormone-sensitive breast cancer.
Which hormone is released by the hypothalamus during premenopausal women?
The hypothalamus releases LHRH, which then causes the pituitary gland to make and secrete LH and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).
How does hormone therapy work?
Hormone therapy (also called hormonal therapy, hormone treatment, or endocrine therapy) slows or stops the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors by blocking the body’s ability to produce hormones or by interfering with effects of hormones on breast cancer cells. Tumors that are hormone insensitive do not have hormone receptors ...