Thursday, December 29, 2011

(Cancer) Chemoprevention

The idea that medications could be accustomed to prevent cancer is an appealing one, and many high-quality clinical trials support using such chemoprevention in defined conditions.

Daily use of tamoxifen, the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), usually for 5 years, has been demonstrated to lessen the risk of developing breasts cancer in high-risk women through about 50%. A recent study reported how the selective estrogen receptor modulator raloxifene offers similar benefits to tamoxifen within preventing breast cancer in high-risk ladies, with a more favorable side-effect profile.

Raloxifene is a SERM such as tamoxifen; it has been shown (within the STAR trial) to slow up the risk of breast cancer in high-risk women equally in addition to tamoxifen. In this trial, that studied almost 20, 000 ladies, raloxifene had fewer side results than tamoxifen, though it did permit more DCIS to create.

The effect of COX-2 inhibitors for example rofecoxib and celecoxib upon the danger of colon polyps have already been studied in familial adenomatous polyposis patients and within the general population.

In both organizations, there were significant reductions within colon polyp incidence, but this came at the buying price of increased cardiovascular toxicity.