November 9, 2004 in Features

The likelihood of stroke seems to increase slightly with tamoxifen

Linda Searing The Washington Post
 

The question: Tamoxifen is commonly taken by women with breast cancer to prevent its recurrence and by women at high risk for the disease. Because the drug increases the risk of blood clots, does it make a stroke more likely?

This study reviewed randomized studies comparing tamoxifen to a placebo or another drug in nearly 40,000 women. Analysis showed that 1.06 percent of those taking tamoxifen had a stroke within about five years, compared with 0.76 percent of the others.

Who may be affected by these findings? Women with breast cancer and those at elevated risk for the disease. An estimated 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year.

Caveats: The studies did not identify whether participants had any risk factors for stroke. The reviewers stressed that the absolute risk of having a stroke in a given period from tamoxifen usage remained low.

Bottom line: Women considering tamoxifen may want to talk with a doctor about having cardiovascular checkups before and throughout their treatment.

Find this study: October issue of Neurology; abstract available online at www.neurology.org.

Learn more about tamoxifen at http://cis.nci.nih.gov and at www.cancer.org.

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