What is Tamoxifen and how does it work?
Tamoxifen be used to help lower the risk of developing breast cancer.
For women who have been treated with breast-conserving surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) that is hormone receptor-positive, taking tamoxifen for 5 years lowers the chance of the DCIS coming back. It also lowers the chance of getting an invasive breast cancer in both breasts.
For women with hormone receptor-positive invasive breast cancer treated with surgery, tamoxifen can help lower the chances of the cancer coming back and raise the chances of living longer. It can also lower the risk of getting a new cancer in the other breast. Tamoxifen can be started either after surgery (adjuvant therapy) or before surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) and is usually taken for 5 to 10 years. This drug is used mainly for women with early-stage breast cancer who have not yet gone through menopause. (If you have gone through menopause, aromatase inhibitors are usually used instead.)
For women with hormone-positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, tamoxifen can often help slow or stop the growth of the cancer, and might even shrink some tumors.