title: Primary toremifene treatment for elderly postmenopausal women with breast cancer.
abstract: Among patients with breast cancer who consulted the Department of Radiology, Kochi Medical School to undergo breast-conservation treatment, toremifene (TOR) alone was administered to 7 postmenopausal women as initial treatment for reasons such as the patient's desire, advanced age, and concomitant disease. In 6 patients, breast-conserving surgery was performed 1-12 months after the start of the administration of TOR alone. A 90-year-old patient has been treated with TOR alone for 56 months, and is being followed up. Six of 7 patients showed 50% or greater reduction of tumors, including 1 in whom the administration of TOR alone for 5 months reduced the tumor from a clinical diagnosis of skin invasion (T4b) to T1c, allowing lumpectomy under local anesthesia. In one patient, there were no changes (reduction ratio: 14%). No progressive disease was detected in any patient. In this study, the administration of TOR alone markedly reduced tumors in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, facilitating down-staging. Treatment with TOR alone may be a useful neoadjuvant therapy or single therapy in elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hosogi Hospital, Daizen-cho 37, Kochi-shi, Kochi 780-8535, Japan.
authors.forename: Norihiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishioka
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kariya
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D017312:Toremifene / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D017312:Toremifene