What are aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer, and how do they work?

Sometimes these costs can be thousands of dollars a month. Aromatase inhibitors are pills, so they’re covered under your health insurance plan’s prescription drug benefit rather than the plan’s medical benefit. This means there are usually out-of-pocket costs, which can add up over time.

What are the types of aromatase inhibitors?

Aromatase inhibitors block the enzyme aromatase, which turns other hormones into estrogen. By reducing your estrogen levels, aromatase inhibitors keep cancerous cells from growing and spreading. An aromatase inhibitor (in combination with ovarian suppression therapy) may be considered, however, for men who are unable to take tamoxifen for some reason. Hormone therapy for breast cancer is a treatment for breast cancers that are sensitive to hormones.

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Some people may find it difficult to tolerate the possible side effects. Healthcare providers use aromatase inhibitors to treat hormone receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer. ER-positive breast cancer often affects women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB) who are age 50 and older.

To learn about anabolic steroid tablets legal a specific aromatase inhibitor, visit the National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus website. Our team is made up of doctors andoncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing. Kailey Proctor, MPH, RDN, CSO, says that grape seed extract can act as an aromatase inhibitor due to its high levels of procyanidin B dimers. A breast cancer diagnosis after menopause can be overwhelming. Just as you’re beginning a new chapter in your life, you’re told you have cancer. Once you’ve completed treatment, you may be considered in remission if five years have passed and you don’t have cancer symptoms and tests don’t find signs of cancer.

• Learn more about the side effects of aromatase inhibitors.
• This medicine deprives breast cancer cells of the hormones they need to grow.
• Aromatase inhibitors are a class of drug used to prevent cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
• When you stop having the drug, your ovaries should start working again.
• This side effect can be serious enough to cause some women to stop taking the drugs.
• For example, you might be able to have just the tumour removed (a lumpectomy) instead of the whole breast (mastectomy).

Side effects of hormone therapy

Before menopause, the ovaries produce most of the body’s estrogen. Aromatase inhibitors work by reducing the amount of estrogen in your body. It also regulates important processes in your skeletal, cardiovascular and central nervous systems that affect your overall health.

If you can’t have tamoxifen for any reason, your doctor might recommend you have other types of hormone therapy such as an aromatase inhibitor. Or your doctor might recommend surgery to remove your ovaries. The most common way to have hormone therapy for breast cancer is after surgery. The aim of hormone treatment after surgery is to lower the risk of the cancer coming back. Possible side effects of aromatase inhibitors include muscle pain, joint pain and menopausal symptoms (such as hot flashes).