Tamoxifen risk of blood clots???

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turnberry
turnberry Member Posts: 42
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

Hi Ladies,

Don't know what happened to my last post??  Computer ate it I think.

I have a question that I'd like to just throw out there to see if anyone has insight to this.  I have ADH and last year they had suggested I go on Tamoxifen.  I chose not to because my maternal grandmother had a history of blood clots.  Another reason I chose not to was because every single procedure I've had done in regards to my breasts (cyst aspirations, stereotactic biopsy & surgical biopsy) I've developed hematomas.  Now maybe it's just in my mind that blood clots and hematomas are related but does anyone have factual information regarding this.  I go in next week for my 6 mo. follow-up mammo and see the surgeon the next week and I think Tamoxifen might be brought up again at some point.  I just want to know what the risk is.

Thanks!!!

Sherry

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  • Tonyia
    Tonyia Member Posts: 11
    edited October 2008

    I don't know for sure but I have a gene mutation called Factor V Leiden that puts me in high risk for blood clots and I cannot take any estrogen containing hormones, birth control pills etc. because of that. If I am right I "think" Tamoxifen is a hormone blocker and does not actually contain hormones??

    Maybe someone with more knowledge will come along and answer soon.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2008

    Tonya--the risk of blood clots from tamox is reportedly very low, less than 1%, but I would think it would be contraindicated in anyone with an already existing high risk for blood clots.  I would recommend checking with both your oncologist and  PCP.  I very often get a lot of valuable information on SEs  and drug interactions from the pharmacist as well.

    Anne

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited October 2008

    The population incidence will vary from study to study. The women who are taking tamoxifen and who have NEVER had breast cancer (however that is defined) may have a different risk than women who have had a history of breast cancer.  Stage may be important too.  (Patients with cancer have an increased incidence of clotting disorders.  There is a saying that 'a dime's worth of cancer can cause a dollar's worth of clots.' (or something to that effect.))

    Your risks may vary depending on your age, menopausal status, other clotting risk factors, etc. 

    This paper found an increased incidence of thromboembolic disease.  This was also definitely affected by the woman's age.

    http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/109876773/HTMLSTART 

    This paper gave a relative risk of 1.63 for thromboembolic events.

     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17470740

    Interestingly, this paper found NO association between Leiden factor and thromboembolism in tamoxifen users.

     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818854

    This is an abstract of the STAR trial.  You may be able to get links from the icon in the upper right hand corner. 

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16754727

    If you're going through hell, keep going-Winston Churchill

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  • erika-canada
    erika-canada Member Posts: 142
    edited October 2008

    Hi:

    Yes, Tomoxifen definitely puts you at high risk for blood clots, as do the AI's that's why was put on Warfarin, actually before my chemo (also a risk factor) and still on it because I'm on Femora.

    Many Hugs,

    Erika

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