Klin Onkol 2000; 13(3): 71-73.
Summary: Endocrine therapy is an important option in the treatment of advanced breast cancer. The antiestrogen tamoxifen is the standard first endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women. When tamoxifen fails, either progestins or aromatase inhibitors are used. The main feature distinguishing endocrine therapies has been their mechanism of action and safety profile. The progestins and commonly used aromatase inhibitors aminoglutethimide and formestane have certain side effects. That is why new aromatase inhibitors have appeared on the market almost two years ago anastrozol and recently letrozole. New trials have been performed comparing letrozole to megestrol acetate and aminoglutethimide. The results of these trials suggest that the optimal dose of letrozole is 2.5 mg/day, which is superior to 0.5 mg/day, and letrozole is superior to both megestrol acetate and aminoglutethimide in terms of both efficacy and tolerability as the second choice in the treatment of advanced or relapsed breast cancer in postmenopausal patients.
