Postmenopausal women breast cancer

Sclerosing glomerulonephritis has been attributed to anastrozole in a 73-year-old postmenopausal woman with breast cancer (18). 

Although estrogen replacement therapy at menopause can prevent bone loss and cardiovascular disease, there is evidence that estrogens are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer as well as endometrial cancer(Gambrell, 1994), which thus seriously limits the use of estrogen replacement therapy. The ideal compound for women s health should be one able to decrease the risk of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in women, namely breast cancer, uterine cancer, osteoporosis, bone fractures, and cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is, in fact, the leading cause of death in postmenopausal women (Lerner and Kannel, 1986). This ideal compound should also have an excellent safety profile to ensure compliance over 20 to 40 years of a woman s life. 

Contraindications to oestrogen therapy include women who may have an oestrogen-dependent neoplasm, e.g. breast cancer, who may be pregnant, or have a disposition to thromboembolism. Hypertension, liver disease or gallstones, migraine, diabetes, uterine fibroids or endometriosis may all be made worse by oestrogen. These are not necessarily absolute contraindications, and HRT should not for instance be denied to a poly-symptomatic woman with mild hypertension. If necessary, it may be permissible to treat both the hypertension and the postmenopausal symptoms with separate drugs. 

A 62-year-old postmenopausal woman with metastatic breast cancer is starting treatment with anastrozole. Which potential side effect(s) do you anticipate and monitor ... 

Excluding certain types of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. The chance of developing invasive breast cancer during a woman s lifetime is approximately 1 in 8, and postmenopausal women are at greater... 

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