Giving hope to those affected
by secondary breast cancer
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Giving hope to those affected
by secondary breast cancer
Fulvestrant
“the final overall survival results of the phase III SWOG S0226 trial show that the addition of first-line fulvestrant to anastrozole was associated with improved overall survival in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer.”
https://ascopost.com/issues/may-25-2019/fulvestrantanastrozole-in-metastatic-breast-cancer/
What is Fulvestrant?
Fulvestrant is a hormone treatment for post menopausal women with locally advanced or advanced breast cancer. You might have it with targeted cancer drugs.
How does Fulvestrant work?
The female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone stimulate some breast cancers to grow. These breast cancers are called hormone sensitive or hormone receptor positive.
Drugs that block the effects of these hormones can slow or stop the growth of breast cancer cells. Fulvestrant stops oestrogen getting to the cancer cells by blocking oestrogen receptors and reducing the number of receptors the cancer cells have.
How do you have Fulvestrant?
You have fulvestrant as an injection into the muscle (intramuscular) in your bottom.
How often do you have Fulvestrant?
You have fulvestrant as cycles of treatment. This means you have the drug and then a rest for your body to recover. Each cycle is 28 days (4 weeks).
On cycle 1 you have injections on day 1 and day 15.
After cycle 1 you have injections on day 1 of each cycle.
You have two injections – one into each buttock. You might have these in hospital as an outpatient, or at your GP surgery. Your doctor or practice nurse gives you the injections. Each injection takes 1 to 2 minutes.
You carry on with treatment until it stops working, and the side effects aren’t too bad.
Tests
You might have blood tests before starting treatment and during your treatment. They check your general health and might check your levels of blood cells and other substances in the blood.
Side Effects
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