Journal of the National Cancer Institute
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyExtended adjuvant therapy with anastrozole among postmenopausal breast cancer patients: results from the randomized Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 6a.
Clinical trial data have shown that among breast cancer patients who were disease free after 5 years of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen, further extended treatment with the nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor letrozole reduces breast cancer recurrence. We examined the efficacy and tolerability of extended adjuvant therapy with another aromatase inhibitor, anastrozole, for 3 years among women who had completed 5 years of adjuvant therapy. ⋯ These data confirm the benefit of extending adjuvant tamoxifen therapy beyond 5 years with anastrozole compared with no further treatment. Further research is required to define the optimum length of extended adjuvant therapy and to investigate the possibility of tailoring this period to suit different disease types.