Even women with small breast tumors should consider chemotherapy or tamoxifen treatment after surgery, scientists reported Tuesday.
Tamoxifen is a drug in pill form that interferes with the activity of the female hormone estrogen.
It has been used for nearly 20 years to treat both advanced and early stage breast cancer. The study reaffirms that the smaller the tumor is, the smaller the risk of cancer returning. The biggest benefit, however, is for tumors larger than 1 centimeter, the panel said. In the new report, Dr. Bernard Fisher of the Pittsburgh-based National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project called the longterm cancer study for data on small tumors. But in an accompanying editorial, Georgetown University cancer expert Dr. Marc Lippman noted Fisher's studies date from the late 1980s and early '90s.