Effects of tamoxifen therapy on plasma lipid profile in patients of breast cancer.

AIM To evaluate the effects of tamoxifen therapy on plasma lipid profile in patients of breast cancer. METHOD A total of 55 postoperative patients of breast cancer were given tablet tamoxifen 20mg orally daily for 6 months. Estimation of plasma lipid by standard method was carried out in both pre-menopausal and postmenopausal new patients of early stage breast cancer at 0 day, 3rd month and 6th months of therapy. RESULTS Suggested that in pre-menopausal and postmenopausal patient's TC and LDL-c levels were reduced significantly, whereas, TG, VLDL-c and HDL-c were not altered. Comparison of the effects of tamoxifen in pre-menopausal and postmenopausal patients on lipid profile revealed that fall in TC and LDL-c was significantly higher at both 3 and 6 months in postmenopausal patients. CONCLUSION The study demonstrates that tamoxifen to favorably alter the markers of cardiovascular risk in both pre-menopausal and postmenopausal patients of breast cancer.