The third-generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs) anastrozole, exemestane and letrozole have largely replaced tamoxifen as the preferred treatment for hormone receptor – positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Approximately 185,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed yearly, and at least half of these women are both postmenopausal and eligible for adjuvant therapy with AIs. In addition, AIs are currently being tested as primary prevention therapy in large randomised trials involving tens of thousands of women at increased risk for breast cancer. Given the volume of use, internists will increasingly see postmenopausal women who are taking or considering treatment with AIs. Physicians need to be able to: (i) briefly discuss the pros and cons of using a selective estrogen receptor modulator such as tamoxifen or raloxifene vs. an AI for risk reduction and (ii) recognise and manage AI-associated adverse events. The primary purpose of this review is to help internists with these two tasks.
Both tamoxifen and AIs are effective for the adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatment of postmenopausal breast cancer; the optimal choice of drug is dependent on the characteristics of the patient and tumour. Adverse events with both drug classes are manageable. Adverse events associated with tamoxifen include increased risk of uterine cancers and thromboembolic events vs. an increased incidence of vaginal dryness, loss of libido, musculoskeletal pain and bone mineral density loss with AIs. Promising studies of AIs in the breast cancer prevention setting are ongoing.