Shorter spell of endocrine therapy ‘sufficient’ for breast cancer
Results are strong evidence against routine extended use in postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor positive disease, expert says
Two years of extra therapy with an adjuvant aromatase inhibitor is sufficient for women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, according to trial results.
The finding should change clinical practice, with women needing only a total of seven years’ endocrine therapy rather than 10, the authors say.
In the trial, dubbed ABCSG-16/SALSA, almost 3500 postmenopausal volunteers from 75 Austrian cancer clinics had already received five years of adjuvant endocrine therapy at the time of enrolment.
They were randomly assigned to receive an additional two years or five years of therapy with anastrozole.
