UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, November 6, 1996
7A
Drug fights cancer relapse
Treatment may have side effect
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The benefit of taking the drug tamoxifen to treat early breast cancer lasts for at least a decade, but only if the drug is used for exactly five years and no longer, two studies showed.
The studies, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that women taking tamoxifen for five years after early breast
One study showed that taking the drug for longer than five years conferred no survival advantage and could risk other disorders.
cancer surgery had about an 18 percent better chance of avoiding relapse than those not taking the drug.
"These studies are extremely valuable," said Sandra M. Swain, a cancer specialist at the Comprehensive Breast Center in Washington. "In clinics all over the world, everyone will be using tamoxifen for five years now for sur. That is of major significance."
Tamoxifen, sold under the name Nolvadex, is prescribed as additional therapy after breast cancer surgery.
A study by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, gives support to a National Cancer Institute clinical alert issued last year that recommended tamoxifen not be used beyond five years.
That study began in 1982 and has involved more than 2,800 women.
In results published this week, the study found that women with early breast cancer who were treated surgically and then took tamoxifen for five years had a 12 percent better disease-free rate after 10 years than women who did not take the drug.
The study found a slight increase in blood clots and endometrial cancer in
But Swain said the number of these disorders might be too small to draw a statistically valid conclusion.
women who continued the drug beyond five years.
A study by the Swedish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group studied the effects of the drug on two groups of patients that took the drug for either two years or five years. It measured the effect on both groups 10 years after the cancer treatment started.
The study found 18 percent fewer deaths after 10 years among women who took the drug for five years after surgery than among patients who took it for two years.
Muslim leader ousted second time
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Just eight years ago, Benazir Bhutto was a worldwide heroine who had endured jail and exile in her battle against a military dictator. Today, ousted as prime minister for a second time on corruption charges, she is accused of sanctioning death squads and plundering the treasury.
The Associated Press
Her husband is under arrest, and her Pakistan People's Party is in shamles. But Bhutto has proved herself a fighter, using mass protests to regain
power when she first was ousted.
Even as she sat in her lavish official residence last Wednesday, one day after her government was dismissed, people already had started wondering whether she could pull it off again — defy the odds, rally the people and wind up back on top.
But times have changed.
Bhutto has been weakened by two terms in office rife with corruption and incompetence — and by a sense that she has betrayed great promise. Her nation's desire for reform appears to have deepened.
She rode to power in 1988 on the legacy of her father, a populist leader who inspired Pakistan's poor with promises of "bread, clothing and shelter."
But it was not long into her first term that her troubles began.
During her time in opposition, she also learned to make deals with enemies, joining hands with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the man who had sacked her. Together they forced the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and paved the way for general elections in 1993 that returned her to
the prime minister's office.
Within two years, her government was bogged down in corruption charges, fighting the judicial system, the president and the International Monetary Fund.
The state-run banks were being milked by politicians who took loans worth millions of rupees they never intended to repay.
Bhutto was accused of controlling political and criminal violence in Karachi, the country's financial center, by allowing the police to act as judges and executioners.
Women and Public Speaking
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Thursday, November 14, 1996 Malot Room, Kansas Union 7:00-8:00 p.m.
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