10 Years of AIs Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrence, Research Says

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  • Claire_in_Seattle
    Claire_in_Seattle Member Posts: 4,570
    edited June 2016

    I see this as a minimal benefit at best. I thought this a year ago when I told my oncologist that I hadn't yet seen any major news coming out of this study. Guess what? I really did tolerate anastrazole very well. But I also limped around a bit from extra joint pain. I am very active as it is, and I don't want to be slowed down. I got out with normal bone density.

    My internist said to me a couple months later "congratulations on making it through the 5 years; nasty stuff".

    I am continuing with the two things that do show a survival benefit: exercise and aspirin therapy, shown to be effective in observational studies. As I work with statistics professionally, I don't think there will be much to analyze with such a small sample of those who recur. I do get annoyed that they talk "contralateral" which to me highlights AIs as having being preventative for high risk patients.

    I don't think the risk of metastatic cancer (the one all of us really worry about) is significant to the degree I need to worry. - Claire

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  • Longtermsurvivor
    Longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,438
    edited June 2016

    Health News Review on the STAT story about this topic:

    Breast cancer treatment shows benefit to extended treatment with aromatase inhibitors (Link to STAT story)

    Our Review Summary

    This is a story about a new study on whether extending the use of letrozole (brand name Femara), a type of drug known as an aromatase inhibitor, reduces recurrence in breast cancer survivors.

    Women who have undergone treatment for hormone-receptor positive breast cancer typically take aromatase inhibitors for the subsequent five years. The study showed that extending this treatment to 10 years lowers the rate of recurrence. The added benefit of continuing aromatase inhibitors for 10 years as opposed to five must, however, be weighed against the side effects. For women who are at high risk of recurrence, the results of this study are of particular interest.

    The story does a commendable job of presenting a clear and balanced report of the study findings, and by stating that the results did not find a difference in overall survival.

    Why This Matters

    Continuing aromatase inhibitors beyond the standard five years is already a choice undertaken by some women and their doctors. This study is the first to rigorously address whether this is beneficial.

    more review at:

    http://www.healthnewsreview.org/review/well-done-s...


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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited June 2016

    The medium age of women in this study was 65. Those women are probably around ten years post menopause. I've been wondering if the AIs are easier for women who have more years between them and menopause. It would be interesting to see if there is a correlation between severe AI SE and the number of years past menopause. I had an ooph at 55 and started the AIs. Femara lasted seven months, Arimidex three months. At the point I didn't want to get out of bed anymore due to joint and tendon pain and fatigue I made the decision to go back to Tamoxifen. I don't think I want to know results from a possible BCI test.

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  • grammakathy
    grammakathy Member Posts: 407
    edited June 2016

    farmer Lucy - I have wondered the same thing - that we don't have as much estrogen to latch onto and kick out of our system. I only lasted on Arimidex nine months though, developing capillaritis on my right thigh and calf. The other side effect that didn't abate after a coulple of months was the insomnia. Tamoxifen has been easier for me with the rash slowly fading and I can sleep again.

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  • Faith-840
    Faith-840 Member Posts: 995
    edited June 2016

    Well, ladies, I'm not sure how much past menopause you have to be to have less SE's. I was thrown into menopause at age 50 from the chemo followed by 5 years of tamoxifen. Now 25 years later at age 75, the BC cancer has returned with mets to my lung and I'm on Ibrance and letrozole and I think I have lots of side effects from the Letrozole. My original onc and the present one have told me, the protocol I would be given now is 10 years of the anti hormone. For the record, I hated the tamoxifen and couldn't wait to stop it. I think I may have even stopped a few months short of 5 years so who knows if I had continued for 10 years if I'd have had this recurrence.

    Sometimes stuff just happens!

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  • RMlulu
    RMlulu Member Posts: 1,989
    edited June 2016

    NO no no...not doing 10 years. Bone loss, Zometa infusions..,not going to do it.

    AL started at 59...very sad to think 10 yrs of this.

    Ugh, I see my mo next week...grr

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