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Meta-analysis of pre-operative aromatase inhibitor versus tamoxifen in postmenopausal woman with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

Clinical trials have reported conflicting results as to whether pre-operative aromatase inhibitors (AIs) improve outcome over pre-operative tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Methods

We performed a meta-analysis comparing primary and secondary end points of pre-operative AI and pre-operative tamoxifen. The event-based risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% Cis) were derived, and a test of heterogeneity was applied.

Results

Four studies (1,160 patients) met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. Meta-analysis showed that pre-operative AI was more effective than pre-operative tamoxifen. Pooled results of clinical efficacy were as follows: clinical objective response rate (RR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.14–1.47; P < 0.001), ultrasound objective response rate (RR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.10–1.51; P = 0.002), and breast conserving surgery (BCS) rate (RR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.16–1.59; P < 0.001). Hot flashes, nausea, and fatigue were not different between the pre-operative AI and pre-operative tamoxifen groups. Although headache was more frequent in the pre-operative AI group (P = 0.011), it was a manageable toxicity and was not clinically relevant.

Conclusion

Pre-operative AI has better BCS rate than tamoxifen and in terms of toxicities, is not inferior to tamoxifen; therefore, we could suggest pre-operative AI instead of tamoxifen for those postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor positive breast cancer, not eligible for chemotherapy.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Brain Korea 21 Project and the Korean Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant no. 01-PG3-PG6-01GN07-0004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, 97 Gurodong-gil, Guro-ku, Seoul, 152-703, South Korea

    Jae Hong Seo, Yeul Hong Kim & Jun Suk Kim

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  1. Jae Hong Seo
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  2. Yeul Hong Kim
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  3. Jun Suk Kim
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Correspondence to Jae Hong Seo.

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Seo, J.H., Kim, Y.H. & Kim, J.S. Meta-analysis of pre-operative aromatase inhibitor versus tamoxifen in postmenopausal woman with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 63, 261–266 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-008-0735-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-008-0735-5

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