Dr. Mamounas on Extended Letrozole Therapy for Breast Cancer

Eleftherios (Terry) P. Mamounas, MD, medical director of the Comprehensive Breast Program at the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, discusses the phase III trial for extended letrozole (Femara) therapy for patients with breast cancer.

The NASBP B-42 trial evaluated the role of letrozole for patients with stage I to IIIA breast cancer that had received 5 years of an aromatase inhibitor (AI) or the combination of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) followed by an AI. Patients who were disease free after 5 years of these treatments were given either letrozole or a placebo for the randomized study.

The primary endpoints of the study were to prevent breast cancer recurrence and cancer appearing in the opposite breast. The secondary endpoints include breast cancer-free interval, distant recurrence, and an assessment of toxicity in terms of osteoporotic fractures as well as arterial thrombotic events.