Thousands of breast cancer survivors take antidepressants to ward off hot flashes caused by tamoxifen a chemical agent that helps prevent the disease from returning. Some breast cancer survivors take antidepressants to improve or combat their symptoms of depression.
Some research is showing that some popular antidepressants may keep the anti-cancer drug from working as well as it should. There is researching supporting and disputing this theory.
Doctors and patients hoped two large studies would resolve the issue, but they were disappointed this weekend because at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, scientists in the United States and the Netherlands reached opposite conclusions. The researchers in the U.S. showed a higher rate of breast cancer recurrence in patients taking both drugs. Researchers in the Netherlands found that antidepressants did not increase a survivors risk of recurrence.
The antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s), are a class of drugs that includes fluoxetine (best known under the brand name Prozac) and paroxetine (Paxil).
The records showed a two-year breast cancer recurrence rate of 13.9 percent in women taking tamoxifen along with a certain type of inhibiting antidepressant, compared with a 7.5 percent recurrence rate among women taking tamoxifen alone, according to Dr. Ronald E. Albert of Medco Health Solutions in Franklin Lakes, N.J.
In contrast, Dutch investigators reported just the opposite when they looked at the records of 1,962 breast cancer patients who took tamoxifen between 1994 and 2006. They found no evidence that certain inhibitors increased the risk of breast cancer recurrence in women taking tamoxifen.
So as you can see, the jury is still out on this important research. Evenso, it is still very important for breast cancer survivors to keep the lines of communication open with your doctor. Discuss with your doctor the benefits, risks and alternatives to taking these two types of medication in combination.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.