Adjuvant endocrine treatment in postmenopausal patients

The treatment of early breast cancer with positive steroid receptors will invariably involve the use of endocrine therapy. The benefit of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) tamoxifen has been documented over the last 3–4 decades for all age groups. In postmenopausal women estrogen deprivation strategies have been studied during the last 15 years. Using aromatase inhibitors a further reduction in the risk of recurrence has been well established and has even surpassed some of the benefits gained from SERMs. Current research is investigating optimal duration and sequence of these approaches. Bone marr…