An ObGyn’s guide to aromatase inhibitors as adjuvant therapy for breast CA
You may not prescribe anastrozole, letrozole, or exemestane, but there’s a strong possibility that some of your patients are taking one of these medications. Here’s what you need to know to encourage compliance and ease their ill effects.
IN THIS ARTICLE
OBG Management: What can an ObGyn do to encourage compliance with and completion of AI therapy?
Dr. Kaunitz: First, it is critical that patients understand that AIs are lifesaving drugs. As a recent paper points out, early discontinuation or noncompliance with AI therapy is associated with higher mortality.33
Clinicians should also help breast cancer patients understand what common side effects to anticipate with these medications.
Finally, clinicians who understand the financial toll a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment can take are better positioned to help women overcome challenges that may interfere with long-term compliance with AI therapy.
OBG Management: Do you expect the use of AIs in breast cancer survivors to become more commonplace?
Dr. Kaunitz: Given how common breast cancer is, and given the new ASCO guidelines and the extensive literature upon which they are based, ObGyns will be seeing more women using AIs. Although we are not the physicians who prescribe AIs, we need to remain up to date on their benefits and side effects. This important class of drugs is positioned to improve outcomes for postmenopausal women with breast cancer.
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