Nearly a third of early-stage breast cancer patients stop their aromatase inhibitor (AI) treatment early because of intolerance, a new trial has found, although when offered an alternative AI medication, over a third are able to continue.
Around 500 patients were randomly allocated one of two AIs, exemestane or letrozole. The researchers found that after two years, 32.4% of the women had stopped initial treatment because of an intolerance, largely due to musculoskeletal symptoms (24.3%).
Median time to treatment discontinuation was around six months but it was shorter for exemestane patients. Younger women and those who had taxane-based chemotherapy were also more likely to stop treatment.
Women who had discontinued because of adverse effects were given the option to switch to the other...
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