Tamoxifen/arimidex

[Dport]

I am a 41 years old and premenopausalno family hx of breast cancer.  I had a mastectomy and sentinal lymph node biopsy.  My tumor was less than 1cm and my nodes are clear.  The oncologist has recommended hormone tx.  He has suggested Arimidex and Lupron.  I have done some reading and there doesn't seem to be any research showing that this is a good tx.  It also looks like I would be at risk for osteoperosis. Would tamoxifen be a better choice even with it's side effects (unterine cancer, cataracts, bld clots) Is there any benefit of hormone tx or   do statistics show I would do just as well with no further tx.

Thanks for your input.

D.P.

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear dport:  Whether or not to do hormone therapy depends upon whether the tumor is estrogen or progesterone receptor positive or negative.  If these receptors are negative, there is no value to hormone therapy.  If they are positive, the standard of care would be tamoxifen.  As yet, arimidex is not approved for premenopausal women.  Lupron is sometimes done to suppress ovulation is strongly ER/PR positive tumors - particularly those at high risk.  I'm not certain that you fall into this category.  You might benefit from a second opinion from an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer.

[Dport]

My tumor was estrogen and progesterone positive.  It was a med oncologist at Mayo that wanted to do arimidex and lupron.