Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Suppression of ovarian estrogen production reduces the recurrence of hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer in premenopausal women, but its value when added to tamoxifen is uncertain.Methods
We randomly assigned 3066 premenopausal women, stratified according to prior receipt or nonreceipt of chemotherapy, to receive 5 years of tamoxifen, tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression, or exemestane plus ovarian suppression. The primary analysis tested the hypothesis that tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression would improve disease-free survival, as compared with tamoxifen alone. In the primary analysis, 46.7% of the patients had not received chemotherapy previously, and 53.3% had received chemotherapy and remained premenopausal.Results
After a median follow-up of 67 months, the estimated disease-free survival rate at 5 years was 86.6% in the tamoxifen-ovarian suppression group and 84.7% in the tamoxifen group (hazard ratio for disease recurrence, second invasive cancer, or death, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 1.04; P=0.10). Multivariable allowance for prognostic factors suggested a greater treatment effect with tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression than with tamoxifen alone (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.98). Most recurrences occurred in patients who had received prior chemotherapy, among whom the rate of freedom from breast cancer at 5 years was 82.5% in the tamoxifen-ovarian suppression group and 78.0% in the tamoxifen group (hazard ratio for recurrence, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.02). At 5 years, the rate of freedom from breast cancer was 85.7% in the exemestane-ovarian suppression group (hazard ratio for recurrence vs. tamoxifen, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.87).Conclusions
Adding ovarian suppression to tamoxifen did not provide a significant benefit in the overall study population. However, for women who were at sufficient risk for recurrence to warrant adjuvant chemotherapy and who remained premenopausal, the addition of ovarian suppression improved disease outcomes. Further improvement was seen with the use of exemestane plus ovarian suppression. (Funded by Pfizer and others; SOFT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00066690.).
SUBMITTER: Francis PA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4341825 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Francis Prudence A PA Regan Meredith M MM Fleming Gini F GF Láng István I Ciruelos Eva E Bellet Meritxell M Bonnefoi Hervé R HR Climent Miguel A MA Da Prada Gian Antonio GA Burstein Harold J HJ Martino Silvana S Davidson Nancy E NE Geyer Charles E CE Walley Barbara A BA Coleman Robert R Kerbrat Pierre P Buchholz Stefan S Ingle James N JN Winer Eric P EP Rabaglio-Poretti Manuela M Maibach Rudolf R Ruepp Barbara B Giobbie-Hurder Anita A Price Karen N KN Colleoni Marco M Viale Giuseppe G Coates Alan S AS Goldhirsch Aron A Gelber Richard D RD
The New England journal of medicine 20141211 5
<h4>Background</h4>Suppression of ovarian estrogen production reduces the recurrence of hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer in premenopausal women, but its value when added to tamoxifen is uncertain.<h4>Methods</h4>We randomly assigned 3066 premenopausal women, stratified according to prior receipt or nonreceipt of chemotherapy, to receive 5 years of tamoxifen, tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression, or exemestane plus ovarian suppression. The primary analysis tested the hypothesis that ta ...[more]