Tamoxifen Study

Your April 7 article on Tamoxifen was informative. However, I want to clarify one important point: Women may be at increased risk for breast cancer if they have a mother, sister, or daughter with breast cancer, as you state. However, they may also be at increased risk if they have a paternal relative with breast cancer, especially if the onset was early or there are several affected relatives. These paternal relatives include the father’s sister, parents, aunts and uncles. The potential genetic risk of having family members with breast cancer outweighs the “hormonal” risk of having few or no children, or starting a family later.

As Dr. Cary Presant, principal investigator of the breast cancer prevention trial for Los Angeles Oncologic Institute at St. Vincent Medical Center, cautions, “Women need to have their particular risks for breast cancer reviewed, and the benefits and drawbacks of Tamoxifen thoroughly explained before choosing any method of prevention of breast cancer.” Women inherit genes from both their mother and their father--and they can inherit breast cancer gene mutations from either side as well.

ELLEN R. KNELL, Director

Cancer Genetic Risk

Assessment Program, LAOI

Los Angeles