Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Hormone therapy for breast cancer: Pros and cons
By Mayo Clinic staff| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Tamoxifen | |
| Reduces chance of recurrence and of cancer developing in the other breast | Slightly increases risk of uterine cancers, cataracts and blood clots; causes short-term side effects such as hot flashes and vaginal discharge |
| In women with hormone receptor positive cancer, inhibits growth of cancer cells | Has no benefit for women with hormone receptor negative cancer |
| Preserves and may even increase bone density in postmenopausal women | In premenopausal women, increases risk of osteoporosis |
| Doesn't cause menopause in premenopausal women | Requires a lengthy course of treatment, up to five years |
| Costs less than aromatase inhibitors | |
| Aromatase inhibitors | |
| In women with hormone receptor positive cancer, inhibit growth of cancer cells, and in some trials, have been shown to do so better than tamoxifen | Not an option for premenopausal women |
| Side effects generally mild | Cause mild, short-term side effects including hot flashes, joint pain, muscle aches, and vaginal dryness and irritation; put you at increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures |
| Can be used as an extended adjuvant treatment option for women who have been on five years of tamoxifen therapy | Require a lengthy course of treatment, up to five years |
| Fairly new therapy so long-term side effects not yet fully understood | |
| More expensive than tamoxifen, especially if you have to pay out-of-pocket for prescriptions | |
