Managing Patients on Endocrine Therapy: Focus on...

Managing Patients on Endocrine Therapy: Focus on Quality-of-Life Issues

Abstract

AbstractPurpose: To review the health-related quality of life (QOL) of women treated with adjuvant hormonal therapy.Experimental Design: To review the limited QOL data from randomized trials of tamoxifen versus placebo and ovarian ablation versus none. To discuss QOL results from randomized trials of aromatase inhibitors compared with tamoxifen or placebo for adjuvant therapy of postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive and/or progesterone receptor–positive breast cancer.Results: QOL is generally good in up to 3 years of follow-up with either tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. Vasomotor and sexual complaints remain problematic, however, in only a small proportion of women. There are fewer data regarding the QOL effects of ovarian ablation, which may nonetheless be more substantial.Conclusion: Tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors cause specific vasomotor or gynecologic symptoms, which may affect sexual function. However, clinical benefits of these agents are generally achieved without major detrimental effect on overall QOL.

Authors

Whelan TJ; Pritchard KI

Journal

Clinical Cancer Research, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 1056s–1060s

Publisher

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Publication Date

February 1, 2006

DOI

10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-05-2185

ISSN

1078-0432

Associated Experts

Timothy Whelan

Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences

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