Many Breast Cancer Survivors Don’t Get Life-Extending Therapy
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Hormonal therapies such as tamoxifen, or a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors, can reduce the likelihood that women diagnosed with certain breast cancers will experience a recurrence of their disease. However, a new study finds these treatments — used in breast cancers that are responsive to hormones such as estrogen — are too seldom utilized or often used incorrectly. According to the research team, if all U.S. breast cancer survivors who needed them followed recommendations for hormone therapy, that could mean almost 15,000 lives saved over a decade. Unfortunately, these drugs are “still underused, and in some cases, misused — offered to patients who lack [estrogen] hormone receptors” on their tumor cells, explained study senior author Dr. Dezheng Huo. He’s associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Chicago. Source: HealthDay, February 2, 2017