The Nation - News from Sept. 12, 1985

A National Institutes of Health scientific panel recommended that thousands of older women with breast cancer be treated with hormone therapy to prevent recurrence, saying death rates among such patients could drop by 20% because of the change. An NIH consensus development conference, after three days of reviewing scientific evidence, said hormonal follow-up treatment with the drug tamoxifen could significantly increase the five-year survival rate for many breast cancer victims over age 50. The panel’s recommendation was not concerned with treatment of the cancer itself, which is removed surgically or burned out with radiation.