Risks With Breast Cancer Drugs

So, which would you rather have, invasive breast cancer, or a possibly life-threatening blood clot?

That is the choice women face when they take the cancer drugs tamoxifen or raloxifene, according to an article in The New York Times. 

Tamoxifen also increases women's risk of endometrial cancer and cataracts, according to the article. 

Now, I'm not about to make recommendations based on this information. Any woman who finds herself presented with this treatment choice should discuss it thoroughly with her doctor, and perhaps do some research on her own. 

Read the article: Breast Cancer Drugs Bear Health Cautions

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Comments

[Ilene Winkler]

The New York Times article was really misleading. This study was not about women who are taking these drugs for cancer treatment, although the Times did not make that clear. It was about using these drugs to "prevent" i.e. lower risk of getting cancer. For those of us who have cancer, tamoxifen's benefits in reducing recurrence or metastasis are statistically far greater than the risk of side effects. I have written a letter to the editor, let's see if they print it.
Ilene Winkler
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[jeanne Sather]

Ilene--I assumed that the article in the NYT was talking about women who had had breast cancer and were getting tamoxifene and etc. to prevent a recurrence. But that was not the case? Thanks for the clarification.