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Results
By Mayo Clinic staffYou'll meet with your cancer doctor (oncologist) regularly for follow-up visits while you are taking hormone therapy for breast cancer. Your oncologist will ask about any side effects you're experiencing. Many side effects can be controlled.
Hormone therapy following surgery, radiation or chemotherapy has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back or new cancer developing in people with early-stage estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. It can also effectively reduce the risk of metastatic breast cancer growth and progression in people with hormone-sensitive tumors.
Depending on your circumstances, you may undergo tests to monitor your medical situation and watch for cancer recurrence or progression while you're taking hormone therapy. Results of these tests can give your doctor an idea of how you're responding to hormone therapy, and your therapy may be adjusted accordingly.
- Tamoxifen: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/tamoxifen. Accessed June 4, 2010.
- Sabel MS. Oncology. In: Doherty GM. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery. 13th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5316764. Accessed June 4, 2010.
- Meric-Bernstam F, et al. Oncology. In: Brunicardi FC, et al. Schwartz's Principles of Surgery. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5021163. Accessed June 4, 2010.
- Pritchard KI. Adjuvant endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with early stage breast cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 7, 2010.
- Pritchard KI. Adjuvant endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 7, 2010.
- Ellis M, et al. Endocrine therapy of metastatic breast cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 7, 2010.
- Treatment of invasive breast cancer by stage. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_4X_Treatment_by_Stage_Breast_Cancer_5.asp?sitearea=. Accessed June 4, 2010.
- Giuliano AE. Breast Disorders. In: Doherty GM. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery. 13th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5213900. Accessed June 4, 2010.
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