Complete Hysterectomy 15 years ago, why would I take Tamoxifan?

abbystract

I had a complete hysterectomy many years ago.  My first question would be, how did I still get estrogen receptive breast cancer, and second, why would I use Tamoxifan....do I still have estrogen production from something else in my body?

Leah_S

Abbystract, after menopause (either natural or surgically induced) estrogen is still produced in fat cells and the adrenal glands, though in less quantities than before. That's how those of us who are past menopause can still get ER+ BC.

Best of luck with your treatments.

Leah

peggy_j

Welcome to BC.org!



Your MO should be able to tell you your risk of recurrence without taking the drug and to quantify your expected benefit. Many patients who are post-meno take an AI, which works very differently than tamox.



You're welcome to post in this forum but as an FYI the Hormonal forum (further up) gets a lot more traffic so you may get more responses there--maybe even from patients in the exact same situation.

SelenaWolf

As Leah_S mentioned above, our ovaries are not the only oestrogen-producing organ in our bodies; just the ones that produce the highest quantities/concentrations.  While removing your ovaries (via hysterectomy or otherwise) can, lower the concentration of oestrogen in your body, it does not always lower your risk for developing an ER+ breast cancer.  Oestrogen receptors on breast cancer cells bind with oestrogen in your body to "fuel" themselves; they don't care what organ made the oestrogen, just that it's the right kind of fuel.

Part of the thinking behind removing your ovaries to limit breast cancer recurrence risk is that a limited "fuel" source will, perhaps, make it harder for any ER+ breast cancer cells that exist in your body to feed and grow.  If the ER+ breast cancer cells cannot find an adequate fuel source, then - it is hoped - they will starve and die off, or - at least - grow more slowly and less aggressively. 

This is the same thinking behind using tamoxifen as a breast cancer treatment; it helps prevent any "rogue" ER+ breast cancer cells from latching onto roving oestrogen cells to feed.  By the time the breast cancer cell realizes that - whoops! - this isn't the fuel I need, tamoxifen has fused itself to the cancer cell, which then cannot feed at all; thus, "starving" the breast cancer cell to death.  Since you have developed a ER+ breast cancer, you can, then, benefit from tamoxifen's ability to block ER+ breast cancer cells from accessing their needed fuel source, no matter how that fuel source is being generated.