Dr. Miller, assistant professor at IU School of Medicine, and Victoria Champion, D.N.S., and associate dean of research at the IU School of Nursing, explained new breast cancer therapies and the importance of early detection during the Oct. 24 session of IU Mini Medical School. About 183,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and 41,000 will die from it. Only lung cancer accounts for more cancer deaths in women. The good news is that in the 1990s, the breast cancer death rate declined by the largest amount in the past 65 years, according to the American Cancer Society. One promising therapy currently being investigated is tamoxifen, a drug taken orally that interferes with the activity of estrogen, a female hormone produced in the ovaries.
Tamoxifen is believed to stop the attachment, thus preventing or delaying breast cancer recurrence.
Still, questions remain about the negative side effects of tamoxifen, Dr. Miller said. Its use might increase chances for blood clots, and some experts suggest that it might heighten the risk for ovarian cancer. Another therapy is evolving in the treatment of late-stage breast cancer. Antiangiogenic drugs used in clinical trials at the IU School of Medicine are designed to cut off the blood supply to malignant tumors. Preliminary findings show some patients experience remission or a halt in their cancer's spread.