1.New Treatment Significantly Improves Long-Term Outlook for Breast Cancer Survivors: International clinical trial concludes women should consider taking letrozole after five years of tamoxifen treatment to continue to reduce risk of recurrence (Posted: 10/09/2003, Updated: 06/10/2004) - A Canadian-led international clinical trial has found that post-menopausal survivors of early-stage breast cancer who took the drug letrozole after completing an initial five years of tamoxifen therapy had a significantly reduced risk of cancer recurrence compared to women taking a placebo. 2.Longer-Term Data Confirm Raloxifene Reduces the Risk of Breast Cancer in Older Women (Posted: 06/06/2004) - Raloxifene (Evista®) substantially reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who took the drug for eight years, according to findings presented at the 2004 ASCO meeting in New Orleans. It is not clear whether all women at risk for breast cancer would receive a similar protective benefit. 3.Dose-Dense Chemotherapy Helped Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer (Posted: 06/05/2004) - Weekly administration of the drug Taxol® (paclitaxel) to patients with breast cancer that had spread to other parts of the body resulted in a higher response rate and a longer delay until patients' disease progressed, compared with conventional administration of the drug every three weeks. 4.Calendula Ointment May Help Radiation-Related Skin Irritation (Posted: 05/11/2004) - Women with breast cancer who received radiation therapy after surgery suffered less skin irritation if they applied calendula ointment to the irradiated area than if they used another ointment called trolamine, according to the April 15, 2004, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 5.Exemestane Following Tamoxifen Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrences (Posted: 03/10/2004) - Postmenopausal women with breast cancer who switched to the drug exemestane (Aromasin®) after two or three years on tamoxifen had fewer cancer recurrences than women who stayed on tamoxifen for five years, according to a New England Journal of Medicine report, published March 11, 2004.
