7 Out of 10 Breast Cancers in Younger Women Are Self-Detected

Women with breast cancer would not appear to increase their risk of colorectal cancer by taking tamoxifen, according to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Researcher Center in Seattle.

An analysis combining data from several clinical trials had raised questions about the possibility of that tamoxifen therapy might raise the risk of colorectal cancer.

In their study published in Cancer Causes and Control, researchers conducted a case-control study of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978 to 1992 to test the theory.

Cases included women who subsequently developed colorectal cancer prior to 1995. Controls were a random sample of women who did not develop a second primary malignancy, matched to cases on age, stage, and year of initial cancer diagnosis. Medical records and physician questionnaires ascertained the use of tamoxifen.

Thirty-six percent of the 122 women received tamoxifen versus 38 percent of the 194 controls. Relative to non-users and adjusted for receipt of other therapies, researchers found no increased risk of colorectal cancer associated with the use of tamoxifen. Other sources: Cancer Causes and Control

Other sources: Cancer Causes and Control