Are there benefits to staying on Tamoxifen for longer than 5 years?
To date, only a few randomized clinical trials have looked at the effect of long term Tamoxifen therapy. These trials looked at different indicators in the attempt to establish a cause and effect relationship between Tamoxifen use and recurrence of breast cancer. Some of the parameters studied included estrogen receptor status, Tamoxifen alone versus Tamoxifen as supplemental therapy, initial type of treatment of cancer (i.e. chemotherapy, surgical, radiation, etc) along with other possible therapies to see what works the best. Study results suggest that a small benefit may exist in using Tamoxifen for longer than 5 years. The greatest benefit was seen in patients treated for tumors that are lymph node positive and estrogen receptor positive, who received either surgery or radiation and supplemental Tamoxifen therapy. Tamoxifen therapy was associated with various adverse effects such as an increased risk of developing endometrial cancer, stroke, and pulmonary embolism (blood clot in th
