Issn Print: 1742-8009

Publication Date: 2007/06/01


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LHRH agonists could replace chemo

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Treating pre-menopausal breast cancer patients with LHRH agonists instead of chemotherapy has been shown to be just as effective, according to a report published in The Lancet (269; 1711-23).
The report showed that when pre-menopausal women were treated with LHRH agonists, their chance of the disease recurring was no higher than having chemotherapy alone. About two thirds of pre-menopausal patients - around 5,500 women - are diagnosed with hormone-sensitive breast cancer every year. These women could be offered LHRH agonists and thus avoid potential infertility and long-term menopausal side-effects.
Professor Jack Cuzick, John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, and lead author of the study, said: ‘We analysed 16 trials involving LHRH agonists and these results point to an important additional approach to treating breast cancer.
‘They mean that premenopausal women with hormone receptor positive low risk breast cancer could consider this treatment. For all women aged under 40, this treatment can be added to chemotherapy to improve outcome further. In all cases tamoxifen, a different kind of hormone treatment, would also be usually be used as standard treatment.
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