Hot-flashes in breast cancer survivors: effectiveness of low-dosage fluoxetine. A pilot study.
Breast carcinoma survivors suffering from hot-flashes experience a negative impact on their quality of life. Antidepressants have recently been proven to be effective in these women, significantly reducing the vasomotor symptoms. With this in mind, a single-arm clinical trial low-dose regimen of Fluoxetine (10 mg/day for 4 weeks) was given to twenty symptomatic breast cancer patients. Among the 12 women evaluated at the end of treatment, a statistically significant reduction of the mean number of daily hot-flashes (-36.3%, p = 0.001) and hot-flashes score (-46.2%, p = 0.0006) had been detected as compared to the baseline data. Although the dosage of Fluoxetine used in these trials was lower than earlier published, it should be noted that these positive results were achieved without any relevant side effects.
Mariani
L
L
Dept. of Gynecologic Oncology, Regina Elena National Cancer Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy. luciorm@libero.it
Quattrini
M
M
Atlante
M
M
Galati
M
M
Barbati
A
A
Giannarelli
D
D
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D005473:Fluoxetine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors