Cancer Treatment Reviews
Volume 30, Issue 6 , Pages 583-588 , October 2004

Switching to exemestane after 2–3 years of adjuvant tamoxifen prolongs disease-free survival, but not overall survival, in postmenopausal women surviving primary breast cancer, compared with continuous tamoxifen: Abstracted from: Coombes RC, Hall E, Gibson LJ, et al. A randomized trial of exemestane after two to three years of tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal women with primary breast cancer. N Engl J Med 2004;350:1081–92.

  • Christina Davies, MSc MB ChB (Epidemiology)

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationTel.: +44-1865-404840; fax: +44-1865-40484551
    • Dr Davies is the international coordinator of the ATLAS study, and is involved in the central coordination of the EBCTCG.

References 

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  2. Beral V, Hermon C, Reeves G, Peto R. Sudden fall in breast cancer death rates in England & Wales. Lancet. 1995;345:1642–1643
  3. Peto R, Davies C, Clarke R, Boreham J, Beral V. Letter. Lancet. 2000;355:1822
  4. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group. Effects of adjuvant tamoxifen and of cytotoxic therapy on mortality in early breast cancer; an overview of 61 randomised trials among 28, 896 women. N Engl J Med 1988;319:1681–92
  5. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group. Treatment of early breast cancer. Worldwide evidence 1985–1990, vol 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1990
  6. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group. Systemic treatment of early breast cancer by hormonal, cytotoxic, or immune therapy: 133 randomised trials involving 31000 recurrences and 24000 deaths among 75000 women. Lancet 1992;339:1–15:71–85
  7. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG). Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomized trials. Lancet 1998;351:1451–67
  8. Goss PE, Strasser K. Aromatase inhibitors in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 2001;19:881–894
  9. Coombes RC, Hall E, Gibson LJ, et al. on behalf of the Intergroup Exemestane Study. A randomized trial of exemestane after two to three years of tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal women with primary breast cancer. N Engl J Med 2004;350:1081–92
  10. The ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination) Trialists’ Group. Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer: first results of the ATAC randomised trial. Lancet 2002;359:2131–39
  11. Baum M, Buzdar A, Cuzick J, et al. Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer: results of the ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination) trial efficacy and safety update analyses. Cancer. 2003;98:1802–1810
  12. Boccardo F, Rubagotti A, Amoroso D, et al. Sequential tamoxifen and aminoglutethimide versus tamoxifen alone in the adjuvant treatment of post-menopausal breast cancer patients: results of an Italian cooperative study. J. Clin. Oncol. 2001;119:4209–4215
  13. Boccardo F, Rubagotti A, Amoroso D, et al. Anastrozole appears to be superior to tamoxifen in women already receiving adjuvant tamoxifen. Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 2003;82(Suppl 1):S6;[Abstract]
  14. Peto R. Editorial: Five years of tamoxifen – or more?. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 1996;88:1791–1793
  15. Swain S. Editorial: Tamoxifen: the long and short of it. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 1996;88:1510–1513
  16. Adjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer. NIH Consensus Statement 2000 November 1–3;17 (4):1–23
  17. Gray R, Davies C, Perry P. Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: better late then never. Ann. Oncol. 2000;11:505–507
  18. Goss PE, Ingle JN, Martino S, et al. A randomized trial of letrozole in postmenopausal women after five years of tamoxifen therapy for early-stage breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 2003;349:1793–1802
  19. Burstein HJ. Beyond tamoxifen – extending endocrine treatment for early-stage breast cancer. [Editorial] N. Engl. J. Med. 2003;349:1857–1859
  20. Bryant J, Wolmark N. Letrozole after tamoxifen for breast cancer – what is the price of success?. [Editorial] N. Engl. J. Med. 2003;349:1855–1857
  21. Winer EP, Hudis D, Burstein HJ, et al. American society of clinical oncology technology assessment on the use of aromatase inhibitors as adjuvant therapy for women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: status report 2002. J. Clin. Oncol. 2002;20:3317–3327

☆ Sources of funding: Pfizer.

☆ For Correspondence: R. Charles Coombes, Department of Cancer Medicine, Imperial College and Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK.

☆☆☆ Abstract provided by Bazian Ltd., London.

PII: S0305-7372(04)00121-5

doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2004.06.005

Cancer Treatment Reviews
Volume 30, Issue 6 , Pages 583-588 , October 2004

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