Did the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial show that tamoxifen can prevent breast cancer?
In the BCPT, breast cancer was diagnosed half as often in the women who were assigned to take tamoxifen compared with women who were assigned to take the placebo. Tamoxifen offered this benefit along with no apparent increased risk of serious side effects for women ages 35 to 49, but the benefit for women ages 50 and older came with an increased risk of serious side effects. • What is tamoxifen? Tamoxifen is a pill that has been used for more than 20 years to treat patients with breast cancer. This drug works against breast cancer, in part, by interfering with the activity of estrogen, a female hormone that promotes the growth of breast cancer cells. For this reason, tamoxifen is often called an “anti-estrogen”. • What are the adverse effects of tamoxifen? In the BCPT, tamoxifen caused mild, non-life-threatening side effects in some women. These mild side effects included hot flashes and vaginal discharge. In addition, women over age 50 who took tamoxifen had an increased chance of dev
