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Rebecca Mueller, MS, is a certified genetics counselor at the Basser Center for BRCA. In this blog post, Rebecca discusses chemoprevention, and chemopreventive medications currently used to prevent breast cancer.



There are certain medications that can help prevent breast cancer in women who are at high risk. Chemoprevention is taking a medicine in an attempt to lower cancer risk. Chemopreventive medications can provide additional choices for high-risk women.

Tamoxifen is medication that has been used for more than 20 years to treat women with breast cancer. Usage is also associated with reduced numbers of breast cancer occurrences in the opposite breast. A national study of more than 13,000 healthy women at increased risk determined that tamoxifen can lower the risk of developing breast cancer by 49 percent.

Raloxifene (also called Evista) is a medication shown to have positive estrogen-like effects on bone density and cholesterol levels that also decreases breast cancer risk.

Both medications have risks that should be discussed with your doctor.

It is likely that eventually there will be more medications available for chemoprevention, so staying in touch with your medical team is crucial. It is important to know all current alternatives including the risks and benefits of each before making a decision about chemoprevention.

About the Basser Center for BRCA

The Basser Research Center for BRCA is located within Penn's Abramson Cancer Center at the Perelman School of Medicine. The new center supports research on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, harmful forms of which are associated with greatly increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer development. The center is being named in honor of Mindy Gray's family, the Bassers.

The goal is to learn from today's patients to impact care for generations of cancer patients to come. The Basser Research Center infuses powerful resources to support cancer care and research at every stage of the cancer diagnosis:

• Communication
• Outreach & Risk Assessment
• Prevention
• Early Detection
• Treatment
• Survivorship

Learn more about the Basser Center for BRCA


February is Cancer Prevention Month, and this month we are featuring blogs all about cancer prevention. "Like" the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania on Facebook to get cancer prevention tips, cancer education and cancer research news throughout the whole year.