Dr. Francis on Ovarian Suppression in Young Women With Breast Cancer

Prudence Francis, MD, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses ovarian suppression in young women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer.

In the SOFT trial of premenopausal women with HR-positive breast cancer, findings indicated that recurrence rates in women under 35 who were estrogen receptor-positive improved after receiving ovarian suppression with either tamoxifen or with the aromatase inhibitor exemestane. Francis emphasizes that this is a population of women who demonstrate poor outcomes, and ovarian suppression may be an option to improve survival.

The SOFT trial investigated tamoxifen alone, tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression, and exemestane plus ovarian suppression. The 5-year freedom from breast cancer rate was 95.8% for those treated with tamoxifen alone versus 95.1% and 97.1% for tamoxifen or exemestane plus ovarian suppression.