A patient undergoes a breast scan. In the UK scans like these are currently the main way hospitals detect and monitor breast cancer but leading cancer doctors now believe those at high risk should be offered medication. An international panel of experts believes the rising rate of breast cancer in Britain could be curbed if drugs were given to high-risk patients to try to prevent the illness. Trials of drugs already prescribed to treat breast cancer have shown signs of reducing the chances of patients developing the disease by around a third says a professor writing in the journal Lancet Oncology. The Cancer Research UK epidemiologist who produced the Lancet report writes There s strong evidence to show that drugs such as Tamoxifen are effective at preventing breast cancer in women with greater than average risk of the disease. Meg McArthur from charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer says It s vital that we do find more ways to effectively prevent breast cancer in the future particularly women who are at a high risk of developing the disease. But it s important to remember that this would not be appropriate for everyone. Doctors believe it is important to find better ways of predicting who will respond best to drug treatments so they can target those most likely to benefit and least likely to experience side-effects. According to doctors increased breast density is one of the leading risk factors for breast cancer and early trial results suggest that where Tamoxifen is shown to decrease density the risk of cancer decreases. Long-term studies still need to confirm this theory. However breast density could become a useful tool for identifying high-risk women who would benefit from the preventative treatments. Doctors are considering a range of drugs for breast cancer prevention including Tamoxifen and Raloxifene - which are licensed in the US. Also newer drugs - including Lasofoxifene Arzoxifene and aromatase inhibitors - have shown promising results but still need further investigation. Currently the drugs can cause side-effects including hot flushes blood clots and in some cases womb cancer. Although Tamoxifen and Raloxifene are licensed in the US neither is widely used. It is hoped that in the future it will be possible to assess women s breast cancer risk as part of routine breast screening and offer personalised advice about risk reduction and medicines for preventing breast cancer. Toral Shah who was given Tamoxifen when she was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 29 has mixed feelings about the proposed new use for the drug. I think they mustn t push it on people who don t really know even if they ve got a high risk because they may want to plan a different lifestyle. If it prevents people from having children or gives them a really bad poor quality of life then I don t think it s fair to push it on them she says. Breast cancer is on the rise with almost 50000 cases diagnosed every year in the UK according to Cancer Research

• published: 04 Nov 2013
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