Comment on “Anastrozole (Arimidex ™) versus tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women: survival analysis and updated safety results” by J.-M. Nabholtz et al.

Abstract

In the recently published manuscript, “Anastrozole versus tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women: survival analysis and updated safety results” [ 1 Nabholtz J.M. et al. Anastrozole versus tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women survival analysis and updated safety results. Eur. J. Cancer. 2003; 39: 1684-1689 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (163) Google Scholar ], no survival difference was noted between anastrozole and tamoxifen in the first-line treatment of 1021 postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer in terms of the proportion of patients dead at 2 years (31.1 versus 32.0%), or at median follow-up of 43.7 months (55.1 versus 55.9%) nor in terms of median time to death (39.2 versus 40.1 month) [ 1 Nabholtz J.M. et al. Anastrozole versus tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women survival analysis and updated safety results. Eur. J. Cancer. 2003; 39: 1684-1689 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (163) Google Scholar ]. In view of the fact that there were no significant differences in the other efficacy endpoints (response rate [ORR], time to progression [TTP]), this is not a surprising finding [ 2 Bonneterre J. et al. Anastrozole is superior to tamoxifen as first-line therapy in hormone-receptor positive advanced breast carcinoma. Cancer. 2001; 92: 2247-2258 Crossref PubMed Scopus (550) Google Scholar ]. Reply to comment on “Anastrozole (Arimidex ™) versus tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women: survival analysis and updated safety results” by H.T. Mouridsen, H.A. Chaudri-RossEuropean Journal of CancerVol. 40Issue 7Preview Full-Text PDF