The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7237 p261
22 February 2003

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Journal of the National Cancer Institute abstract (more)

Tamoxifen reduces the risk of benign breast disease

Tamoxifen can reduce the risk of benign breast disease in women at high risk for breast cancer and may reduce the need for some biopsies, a new trial analysis has shown.

The analysis was carried out on the records of over 13,000 women taking part in the US Breast Cancer Prevention Trial. This study has already shown that the incidence of invasive and non-invasive breast cancer can be reduced by as much as 50 per cent with tamoxifen compared with placebo in women at high risk of developing these conditions.

The new data showed that tamoxifen reduced the risk of benign breast disease by 28 per cent compared with placebo (30 vs 42 annual events per 1,000 person years), with women in the treatment group less likely to develop various types of lesions, such as cysts.

Tamoxifen also reduced the risk of fibroadenoma and adenoma, two conditions that often result in patients undergoing biopsies. Compared with the placebo group, the tamoxifen group had 29 per cent fewer biopsies (1,048 vs 1,469), with 19 per cent fewer women undergoing a biopsy. The effects of the drug on benign breast disease were more pronounced in women under 50 (Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2003;95:302).

The authors point out that tamoxifen use is associated with adverse events, such as deep vein thrombosis and stroke. Increases in these side effects were only evident among the postmenopausal women included in the trial. They conclude that tamoxifen can reduce the morbidity of benign breast disease but they do not advocate its indiscriminate use.