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Over the past decade, four placebo-controlled trials of tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer have yielded mixed results. Now, researchers provide longer-term follow-up for two of these studies.
In an international trial (IBIS-I), 7145 high-risk women were randomized to 5 years of tamoxifen or placebo. Initial results were published in 2002: Tamoxifen was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer compared with placebo, but significant increases in venous thromboembolism and all-cause mortality (Journal Watch Oct 22 2002). Now, an average of 3 years after active treatment was completed, a significant reduction in breast cancer persists in the original tamoxifen group compared with the placebo group (about 4.0% vs. 5.5%). A signifi…