Letrozole therapy alone or in sequence with tamoxifen in women with breast cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The aromatase inhibitor letrozole, as compared with tamoxifen, improves disease-free survival among postmenopausal women with receptor-positive early breast cancer. It is unknown whether sequential treatment with tamoxifen and letrozole is superior to letrozole therapy alone.

Methods

In this randomized, phase 3, double-blind trial of the treatment of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women, we randomly assigned women to receive 5 years of tamoxifen monotherapy, 5 years of letrozole monotherapy, or 2 years of treatment with one agent followed by 3 years of treatment with the other. We compared the sequential treatments with letrozole monotherapy among 6182 women and also report a protocol-specified updated analysis of letrozole versus tamoxi

SUBMITTER: BIG 1-98 Collaborative Group 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2921823 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature