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Saturday, October 18, 2008 dianec asks

Q: I'm looking to find out what the increased risk of uterine ca is due to tamoxifen. Help?

I am 6 months post modified radical mastectomy. I had A/C dose dense chemo and have been on tamoxifen for 2 months. I went for a follow-up appointment and I was asked if I had considered a prophylactic hysterectomy/oopherectomy due to the increased risk of uterine cancer.  I didn't know there was a increased risk so now I'm trying to find out what the risk is so I can decide if I want to consider the surgery.  My brain screems "NO" enough already but I will do whatever is necessary to reduce any cancer risk.

 

Thanks,

 

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10/18/08 7:09pm

Diane, looks to me like the risk of uterine cancer  for post-menopausal women on tamoxifen is just shy of 4X what it would be if you weren't taking tamoxifen: it's 1.5%, as opposed to .4%. So either way, very, very low. Not sure what it is for pre-menopausal women, but still, I'd assume low. If I were you I'd get a second opinion; a hysterectomy or ooperectomy are serious, and come with their own side effects (bone density loss, and other issues associated with loss of estrogen). If it were me, I'd risk the 1.5% in return for no more surgery and keeping my ovaries/uterus. Unless there's some other factor here that's encouraging those operations? I suggest getting more info., and/or a second opinion. Good luck - PJH

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