Tamoxifen as prevenative care

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momof1
momof1 Member Posts: 4
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

This story is a little long, so I'll try to make it short! A few months ago I found a lump during SBE. It went away when my period came around. It came back again the next month. The third time it came back it was extremely painful. I have a terrible family history of BC ( mom, grandmother, great-grandmother) so naturally I freaked out. Ended up going through the usual, mammograms (which did not pick it up due to the density of my breasts) ultrasound, needle biopsy (benign) but the doctor suggested I have it completely removed due to the fact that it had looked very suspicious. So I had the lumpectomy (benign). Now, my mom just went to see her oncologist for her yearly checkup (she is TEN years out! YAY) and she told him about me. He said that I qualify for tamoxifen as a preventative measure. We are going next week to discuss it with my dr and in the meantime, I've been doing some research online about it. I noticed that with this my risk of getting two different types of uterine cancer goes up. Does anyone know how high the risk goes up? There is no history of uterine cancer in my family, only breast. I am 32 yrs old and if anyone has any experience with this as a preventative treatment I would love some advice!

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited November 2009

    Tamoxifen is a risk vs benefit game.

    Since you have a strong family history, you may want to consider getting genetics counseling (if you haven't already.)

    "Endometrial Cancer
    Studies have found the risk of developing endometrial cancer to be about 2 cases per 1,000 women taking tamoxifen each year compared with 1 case per 1,000 women taking placebo (1, 2). Most of the endometrial cancers that have occurred in women taking tamoxifen have been found in the early stages, and treatment has usually been effective. However, for some breast cancer patients who developed endometrial cancer while taking tamoxifen, the disease was life-threatening.

    Uterine Sarcoma
    Studies have found the risk of developing uterine sarcoma to be slightly higher in women taking tamoxifen compared with women taking placebo. However, it was less than 1 case per 1,000 women per year in both groups (1, 2). Research to date indicates that uterine sarcoma is more likely to be diagnosed at later stages than endometrial cancer, and may therefore be harder to control and more
    life-threatening than endometrial cancer." http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/tamoxifen

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  • KittyGirl
    KittyGirl Member Posts: 48
    edited November 2009

    I have a related question -- I've read that Tamoxifen reduces breast cancer risk by 50%, but only for Estrogen + BC, and in fact Tamoxifen might increase the risk of estrogen negative BC.  Is that right?

    Also, if Tamoxifen reduces BC risk by half, how do you know if you are in the half where it's going to work?  (Tamoxifen isn't like a Cholesterol or Blood Pressure medication where you can take a blood test to find out if your numbers went down, you know? )  

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  • Angel10
    Angel10 Member Posts: 682
    edited November 2009

    Kitty girl...not sure about tomoxifen increasing the risk for E- cancers....but I could see where it might be possible.

    Regarding your second question....well welcome to the world of cancer treatment and statistics....but sorry you are here!!  There is no way of knowing what part of the spectrum you end up on until you are there...If you are 5 years out with no recurrance...then you are on the side of the stats that indicate that tamoxifen might have contributed to your non-recurrence status. If however you do get a recurrence..where there you have the opposite effect.  There is no test to tell whether or not it is preventing the return of BC until you are at the end of treatment (generally 5 years).  There is however a test to see if you metabolize Tamoxifen well. It is called the CYP2D6  (I think that is what it is...).  But that is all it tells you....it does not say that it will prevent a recurrence in your own body.  It just will give you an indication as to whether or not your body is properly metabolizing tamoxifen, which it needs to do if it is going to block the estrogen receptors it is meant to.

    I hope that was helpful...even if it isn't definitive! :(

    God Bless you!

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