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Tamoxifen Use Associated With Smaller Optic Cup Size: Presented at ARVO

By Michael Casasnovas

FORT LAUDERDALE, F.L. -- May 4, 2006 -- Patients taking tamoxifen in the treatment of breast cancer appear to have smaller optic-cup sizes due to subclinical swelling when compared with women with similar cancer histories who are taking anastrozole, researchers reported here at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting.

"The main purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the optic cups of breast cancer survivors using tamoxifen are smaller than the optic cups of breast cancer survivors using anastrozole, " said Alvin Eisner, MD, research associate professor, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon. "In addition, because the use of tamoxifen probably will become progressively more restricted to younger women as the use of aromatase inhibitors continues to increase, it was also important to determine whether tamoxifen users' cup sizes were dependent on age."

Dr. Eisner and colleagues measured indices of optic nerve head topography using the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II for 3 groups of amenorrheic women ages 40 to 69 years. Subjects in these groups received treatment for up to 2 years with either tamoxifen 20 mg/day or anastrozole 1 mg/day as adjuvant therapy after successful primary treatment for breast cancer.

Data for the 2 treatment groups were compared with those of control subjects not using any hormonal medication.

Patients being treated with tamoxifen displayed significantly smaller cup sizes when compared with patients using anastrozole. Researchers observed little difference from the control group, Dr. Eisner said at his poster presentation on May 3^rd.

Tamoxifen users had lower cup volumes, most noticeably when compared with other women who were around 50 years of age (P =.018).

Because anastrozole is designated for postmenopausal women only, the assessments were re-analyzed for patients older than 50 years. Researchers also observed lesser optic cup area and depth amounts in these tamoxifen users.

"The effects of tamoxifen seem to be age-dependent, possibly because some younger tamoxifen users are not menopausal despite being amenorrheic," said Dr. Eisner.


[Presentation title: Differential Effects of Adjuvant Breast Cancer Medications on Optic Cup Size. Abstract 3648]

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