JLE

Bulletin du Cancer

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New developments in the hormonal treatment of breast cancer in postmenopausal women Volume 86, issue 10, Octobre 1999

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Novartis Pharma SA, 2-4, rue Lionel-Terray, 92506 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex.

Nowadays the role of the hormonotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer in postmenopausal women is well established. The benefit of tamoxifen is demonstrated in the adjuvant setting as well as in the treatment of advanced breast cancer. After tamoxifen failure the hormonosensitive patients can be offered a second and a third hormonal treatment. The developments of new hormonotherapies recently or shortly put at the disposal of oncologists, such as new antiestrogens or selective estrogen receptors modulators (SERM), new steroidal and nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors and antiprogestins are reviewed as well as the recent data on the use of tamoxifen in the primary prevention of breast cancer. The principal characteristics and the potential therapeutic uses of these agents are reviewed in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer in postmenopausal patients.