Women should be assessed for risk of breast cancer and offered drugs to prevent it, British experts said today.
Experts say women facing an increased risk of getting the disease can be identified through the screening process.
Now an expert panel reports in The Lancet Oncology that it is time to begin offering preventative treatment and close monitoring to these women.
They can be detected through the density of breast tissue. When it is densest, women face a four times increased risk of getting the disease.
And, according to the experts, the anti-breast cancer drug tamoxifen could be offered – and its success measured rapidly through monitoring the density of tissue.
Panel chairman Professor Jack Cuzick, of Queen Mary, University of London, UK, said: "There’s strong evidence to show that drugs such as tamoxifen are effective at preventing breast cancer in women with greater than average risk of the disease.
"But it’s important to find ways of predicting who will respond, so drugs like this can be targeted at those most likely to benefit and least likely to experience side effects."
He added: "Increased breast density is one of the leading risk factors for breast cancer and early trial results suggest that where tamoxifen is shown to decrease density the risk of cancer decreases.
"If this is confirmed in long-term studies, breast density could become a powerful way to identify high-risk women who could benefit from preventive treatments."
Dr Lesley Walker, of Cancer Research UK, said other new drugs are also being tested to see if they can prevent the disease.
She said: "Being able to accurately predict breast cancer risk and who will respond to preventative drugs like these is a crucial step in ensuring women get the most suitable treatment."
Preventive therapy for breast cancer: a consensus statement. Cuzick J. et al, Lancet Oncology, March 28 2011 doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70030-4.
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