Hormonal and Other Therapies

Some hormones like estrogen and progesterone attach to cancer cells and help them to multiply quickly. Hormonal therapy works by reducing or stopping the production of these hormones.

The majority of women with breast cancer have hormone-receptor positive (HR+) disease. A woman with breast cancer whose cancer is hormone receptor-positive may have hormonal therapy. Sometimes it is given following other treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. This therapy reduces the risk of a recurrence of breast cancer and also reduces the risk of a new breast cancer.

If your cancer is not hormone-positive, you will not benefit from hormonal therapy.

All hormone therapies are pills that are taken daily by mouth. There are two primary forms of hormonal therapy. 

• Estrogen-receptor blockers block the effects of estrogen in the breast tissue. They are usually prescribed for premenopausal women and sometimes for postmenopausal women. Nolvadex (generic, tamoxifen) is a commonly prescribed anti-estrogen therapy.
• Aromatase inhibitors work by blocking the production of estrogen in the body. They are currently approved for use only in women who’ve gone through menopause (although in some clinical trials premenopausal women are being treated with aromatase inhibitors). in Arimidex (generic, anastrazole), Femara (generic, letrozole), and Aromasin (generic, exemestane) are three commonly used aromatase inhibitors.