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Tamoxifen - Questions Answered

© Bobbi Jones

I did not have to take tamoxifen as a part of my treatment. So, therefore, I do not know enough about it to feel comfortable telling you. So, I read the following information from the National Cancer Institutes website and found this information pretty informative. The only question I had after reading this was "Who has to or gets to take tamoxifen?". I consulted with my oncologist and he informed me that in "most" cases the patient has positive hormone receptors. This information is usually gathered from the pathology report from the biopsy done on the tumor. The drug will react better if the hormone receptors are positive. He also informed me that usually younger women would have negative hormone receptors. I do know however that there are some women out there that have negative hormone receptors that are taking this pill as a clinical study. If you are interested in this drug, please confer with your physician.

CANCER FACTS National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health

1. What is tamoxifen?

Tamoxifen (trade name Nolvadex-R) is a drug in pill form, taken orally, that interferes with the activity of estrogen (a female hormone). Tamoxifen has been used for the past 20 years to treat patients with advanced breast cancer. More recently, it has been used as adjuvant, or additional, therapy following primary treatment for early stage breast cancer. Tamoxifen is now being studied to determine its usefulness in the prevention of breast cancer as well as in the treatment of melanoma and certain other types of cancer.

2. How does tamoxifen work on breast cancer?

Estrogen promotes the growth of breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen works against the effects of estrogen on these cells. It is often called an "anti-estrogen." As a treatment for breast cancer, the drug slows or stops the growth of cancer cells that are already present in the body. As adjuvant therapy, tamoxifen has been shown to help prevent the original breast cancer from returning and also prevent the development of new cancers in the opposite breast.

3. Are there other beneficial effects of tamoxifen?

While tamoxifen acts against the effects of estrogen in breast tissue, it acts like estrogen in other body systems. This means that women who take tamoxifen may share many of the beneficial effects of menopausal estrogen replacement therapy, such as a lowering of blood cholesterol and a slowing of bone loss (osteoporosis).

4. Can tamoxifen prevent breast cancer?