Letrozole for the treatment of pretreated advanced breast cancer patients:Preliminary report

Twenty patients (pts) with metastatic breast cancer with disease progressio n, previously treated with chemotherapy and tamoxifen, were administered or al letrozole (2.5 mg/day) therapy. Fifteen of the patients were postmenopau sal and 5 were premenopausal. Ten were estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, 7 w ere unknown and 3 were ER-negative. All the patients were assessed after 6 months (mo) of chemotherapy. Nine pts (45%) presented a partial response (P R), five (25%) had a stable disease (SD) and six (30%) had a progressive di sease (PD). In the pts with PD, six out of 15 (33%) obtained a PR while und ergoing tamoxifen therapy. The treatment caused no significant toxicity.