We welcome another guest author this month. Dr. Julia Donovan from the division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Baystate Medical Center reviews the risk of endometrial cancer in women who are taking tamoxifen for breast cancer. Read on and see. We often hesitate to publish negative findings.
Lung cancer continues to evade our best efforts.
Currently it is estimated that there are 20million women years of exposure to tamoxifen worldwide. Due to its extensive use, problems associated with the use of tamoxifen have been well described. Tamoxifen has been associated with development of hot flashes, drying of the vaginal tissues, cataract formation, risk of development of clotting problems, and the most worrisome of all is an increased risk of development of endometrial cancer. Review of the large treatment trials in the United States and Europe plus case reports initially documented 250 cases of endometrial cancer in women using tamoxifen. It has been recognized that tamoxifen has an estrogenic stimulatory effect on the uterine tissue, compared to its anti-estrogenic effect on breast tissue.