Antiestrogens effectiveness

strawberryleaves
strawberryleaves Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Hi; I'm new here, and am kind of confused about antiestrogens.

Are there any tests that assess how effective an antiestrogen (aromatase inhibitor, SERM, or ERD) would be on a tumor? It would seem that someone with an estrogen receptor-positive tumor would benefit from an antiestrogen, but I was told it's not that simple. Is the original estrogen-receptor test to determine positive/negative status not that reliable? If so, is there a more accurate test out there?

Thanks to everyone in advance for your help.

Comments

  • roseann4
    roseann4 Member Posts: 992 Member
    #2
    I'm on Arimidex
    Hi and Welcome!

    I never heard that the estrogen-receptor test isn't reliable. My tumor was biopsied and I was told that it was ER+, PR-, Hr2-. I am node negative so I qualified for an additional test that has been available since 2004 called the OncoTypeDX test. That shows more details about the tumor. My tumor turned out to be highly estrogen receptive which my oncologist told me was a good thing because they can use a target drug called Arimidex (one type of aromatase inhibitors). It also give a score for probability for reoccurrance in 10 years which helps to determine if chemo would be an approprate treatment.

    Who told you that the estrogen-receptor test was not reliable?

    Roseann
  • marilyndbk
    marilyndbk Member Posts: 238 Member
    #3
    Hi and welcome.
    I am also
    Hi and welcome.
    I am also facing the question of taking antiestrogen med, Femara. My original bc in 2001 was estrogen receptive. I had lumpectomy and rads and was on Tamoxifen 4 1/2 yrs until I had heart problems and was advised to discontinue med by cardiologist. I have had recurrence in Aug this year and have had bilateral mastectomy with Latissimus Flap reconstruction. Medical oncologist has recommended this preventative med. He doesn't consider this cancer as a Tamoxifen failure. My lymph nodes were clear on both sides and he says the chance of cancer spreading is very tiny. I told him I was not thrilled about taking any more medh my heart history. I took the prescription but have not decided what to do. I know this is no answer to your questions. I just wanted to make the point that it is good to learn as much as you can to make an informed decision. We have to do what we think is best for us at the time and keep positive. Take care. Marilyn
  • strawberryleaves
    strawberryleaves Member Posts: 4
    #4
    roseann4 said:

    I'm on Arimidex
    Hi and Welcome!

    I never heard that the estrogen-receptor test isn't reliable. My tumor was biopsied and I was told that it was ER+, PR-, Hr2-. I am node negative so I qualified for an additional test that has been available since 2004 called the OncoTypeDX test. That shows more details about the tumor. My tumor turned out to be highly estrogen receptive which my oncologist told me was a good thing because they can use a target drug called Arimidex (one type of aromatase inhibitors). It also give a score for probability for reoccurrance in 10 years which helps to determine if chemo would be an approprate treatment.

    Who told you that the estrogen-receptor test was not reliable?

    Roseann

    Still confused...
    The oncologist I spoke to explained that the hormone receptor status tests were scored from 0 to 3, and that a percentage score of all cells with hormone receptors was available. However, he went out to describe how the test results were not consistent, both with the raw results (% of total cells with hormone receptors) and interpretation (which of the four categories to assign a particular % score).

    I understood the above somewhat, I think; the hormone receptor status tests aren't evaluated purely by numbers, but somewhat subjectively as well.

    The problem is this: the oncologist then told me that some ER+ patients could still not respond to antiestrogens, while some ER- patients were later found to respond well to antiestrogens. Okay, false positives and negatives, I get that. But when he mentioned that the error rates for the false results have been observed in clinical research to be anywhere form ten to thirty percent...I got kinda worried.

    Is the Arimidex working well for you?

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