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June 14, 2009
Study suggests certain antidepressants may interfere with effectiveness of tamoxifen
ABC World News (5/31, story 5, 1:35, Johnson) reported that many "women who are taking tamoxifen for breast cancer treatment will get hot flashes from that drug, and/or maybe be depressed because of their disease and the treatment, and so they are often put on antidepressants, including Prozac [fluoxetine] and Paxil [paroxetine]."
Studies now indicate that those medications "may interfere with the effectiveness of tamoxifen."
HealthDay (5/31, Gardner) reported that for the study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, researchers examined medical records of "945 women taking tamoxifen and 353 taking tamoxifen plus an SSRI/2D6 inhibitor, most commonly Prozac and Paxil."
The study showed that "women taking both drugs had a 13.9 percent chance of their breast cancer returning over two years, vs. just 7.5 percent of those receiving tamoxifen alone," which "translates into an almost twofold increase in risk."
Posted by admin at June 14, 2009 12:29 PM