Aromatase Inhibitors for Breast Cancer Treatment

Two SERMs, tamoxifen and toremifene, are approved to treat metastatic breast cancer. The antiestrogen fulvestrant is approved for postmenopausal women with metastatic ER-positive breast cancer that has spread after treatment with other antiestrogens (10). Fulvestrant is also approved for postmenopausal women with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have not previously been treated with hormone therapy (11).

• Hormone therapy works by either lowering the amount of hormones in the body or by blocking them from getting to breast cancer cells.
• Before the menopause, oestrogen is mainly produced in the ovaries.
• Hormone therapy is sometimes combined with targeted therapy.
• They typically remain on the drugs for five to 10 years, depending on how likely the cancer is to return.

Cancer Chat is our fully moderated forum where you can talk to others affected by cancer, share experiences, and get support. You usually have these as an injection just under the skin in your tummy (abdomen). It is called a depot injection, which means that the drug is slowly absorbed into your body over a period of time. You may also have leuprorelin as an injection into a muscle in your leg or buttocks.

Do Aromatase Inhibitors Help Treat Breast Cancer?

Fulvestrant is a type of hormone therapy for post menopausal women with secondarybreast cancer that is hormone receptor positive . You may have it if tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors are no longer controlling your cancer. Hormone therapy for breast cancer is a treatment for breast cancers that are sensitive to hormones. Some forms of hormone therapy for breast cancer work by blocking hormones from attaching to receptors on cancer cells.

If you can’t have surgery

In women, aromatase inhibitors are only used in those who have gone through menopause. They cannot be used unless your body is in natural menopause or in menopause induced by medicines or removal of the ovaries. In men, aromatase inhibitors are typically used with other medicines to better block hormones in the body. Estrogen promotes the development and maintenance of female sex characteristics and the growth of long bones.

Men with early-stage ER-positive breast cancer who receive adjuvant therapy are usually treated first with tamoxifen. Those treated with an aromatase inhibitor usually also take a GnRH agonist. By mimicking GnRH, these medicines interfere with signals that stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen. https://erudyt.org/2024/01/30/how-to-buy-testosterone-undecanoate-a-complete/ Your health care provider may recommend anti-inflammatory medications (such as aspirin or ibuprofen), special exercises or acupuncture to ease the pain [19,116, ,306]. Getting regular physical activity (such as walking, stretching or yoga) may reduce joint and muscle pain [19,119,121,306].