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. 2015 Jan 20:7:37-41.
doi: 10.2147/BCTT.S73997. eCollection 2015.

A comparison of letrozole and anastrozole followed by letrozole in breast cancer patients

Potchavit Aphinives  1 , Damnern Vachirodom  1 , Chaiyut Thanapaisal  1 , Dhanes Rangsrikajee  1 , Ongart Somintara  1
Affiliations

A comparison of letrozole and anastrozole followed by letrozole in breast cancer patients

Potchavit Aphinives et al. Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press). .

Abstract

Background: We previously studied the noninferiority of anastrozole (ANZ) versus ANZ followed by letrozole (A-LTZ) due to reimbursement policy. We found that patients with A-LTZ had better overall survival (OS) than did patients with ANZ alone. This study aimed to prove that patients with A-LTZ also had better OS than patients with letrozole (LTZ) alone.

Methods: All medical records of the breast cancer patients taking LTZ with or without ANZ between 2004 and 2013 were reviewed. All patients were divided into two groups: the LTZ group included patients treated with LTZ alone, and the A-LTZ group included patients treated with ANZ who were automatically changed to LTZ due to change of the reimbursement policy.

Results: From 359 cases, there were 179 cases in the LTZ group and 180 cases in the A-LTZ group. The mean age of patients in the LTZ group was 53.7 years and in the A-LTZ group was 54.2 years. The distribution of clinical stages among the LTZ group versus the A-LTZ group was 21 versus 4 (stage 1), 86 versus 116 (stage 2), 55 versus 46 (stage 3), and 17 versus 14 (stage 4), respectively. Among the LTZ patients, 63.7% took aromatase inhibitor monotherapy and 36.3% had a switching strategy, while in the A-LTZ group, 53.9% took AI monotherapy and 46.1% had a switching strategy. OS of the A-LTZ group was longer than that of the LTZ group.

Conclusion: The patients in A-LTZ, taking ANZ followed by LTZ had better OS than those in LTZ, taking LTZ alone.

Keywords: estrogen receptor-positive; hormonal responsive; tamoxifen.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan–Meier survival curve of the LTZ and the A-LTZ groups of patients (all stages). Abbreviations: A-LTZ, anastrozole followed by letrozole; LTZ, letrozole.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan–Meier survival curve of stage 4 LTZ and A-LTZ patients. Abbreviations: A-LTZ, anastrozole followed by letrozole; LTZ, letrozole.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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