Treatment of estrogen deficiency symptoms in women surviving breast cancer- Part 3: Prevention of osteoporosis and CV effects of estrogens and antiestrogens - Proceedings of a conference held at the Boar's Head Inn Charlottesville, Virginia - September 21-23, 1997

There are several million breast cancer survivors worldwide, In the United States, 180,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, and approx imately 97,000 of these women have an extremely low chance of a suffering a recurrence of their cancer. With an average age at diagnosis of 60 years a nd a 25-year expected duration of survival, the current number of breast ca ncer survivors ill the United States may approach 2.5 million women, Since breast cancer is now being detected at an earlier stage than previously and since adjuvant chemotherapy may cause ovarian failure, an increasing numbe r of women are becoming postmenopausal at a younger age after breast cancer treatment. This conference was convened in September 1997 to consider how menopausal breast cancer survivors should be treated at the present time an d what future studies are needed to develop improved therapeutic strategies . A total of 47 breast cancer experts and 13 patient advocates participated . The proceedings of the conference are being published in six installments in successive issues of ONCOLOGY. This third part focuses on the preventio n of osteoporosis and the cardiovascular Effects of estrogens and antiestro gens.