Tamoxifen at a low dose reduces local and contralateral recurrence of breast intraepithelial neoplasia, according to a new randomised controlled trial.

Italian researchers randomly assigned 500 women aged 75 or younger with in situ breast cancers to receive tamoxifen 5mg or placebo for three years after surgery.

During follow-up of a median of 5.1 years, 14 neoplastic events occurred in the tamoxifen group, compared with 28 in the placebo group.

There were three contralateral breast events with tamoxifen, versus 12 with placebo, the authors reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.