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. 2009 Aug;5(4):291-300.
doi: 10.2147/tcrm.s3856. Epub 2009 May 4.

Long-term efficacy and safety of anastrozole for adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer in postmenopausal women

Sharath Gangadhara  1 , Gianfilippo Bertelli
Affiliations

Long-term efficacy and safety of anastrozole for adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer in postmenopausal women

Sharath Gangadhara et al. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2009 Aug.

Abstract

For more than 20 years, tamoxifen has been the gold standard for the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone-responsive early breast cancer. However, recent randomized trials have shown efficacy and tolerability benefits with the third-generation aromatase inhibitor anastrozole, resulting in an increased use of this agent in the adjuvant setting. Data on anastrozole's long-term efficacy and tolerability are therefore of interest in clinical practice and will be reviewed here, especially in the light of the 100-month analysis of the ATAC (Anastrozole, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination) trial.

Keywords: adjuvant therapy; anastrozole; aromatase inhibitors; breast cancer.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ATAC trial: Curves for time to recurrence (TTR) in hormone-receptor-positive patients. A) Kaplan-Meier prevalence curves and B) smoothed hazard rate curves for time to recurrence. Plots are smoothed with an Epanechinikov kernel with bandwidth chosen by cross validation. Reproduced with permission from The Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination (ATAC) Trialist’s Group (ATAC). Effect of anastrozole and tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment for early-stage breast cancer: 100-month analysis of the ATAC trial. Lancet Oncol. 2008;9:45–53. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fracture episodea rates throughout the ATAC Trialists’ Group study. aA fracture episode comprised one or more fractures on the same day. Fractures occurring after recurrence are not included because patients were censored after recurrence and fractures were not recorded. Reproduced with permission from The Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination (ATAC) Trialist’s Group (ATAC). Effect of anastrozole and tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment for early-stage breast cancer: 100-month analysis of the ATAC trial. Lancet Oncol. 2008;9:45–53. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier.
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