Letrozole

What is Letrozole

Letrozole is a hormonal therapy drug used to treat breast cancer in women who have been through the menopause. Sometimes it is used to treat breast cancer in men.

Letrozole may be used:

• before surgery, to try to reduce the size of the cancer and avoid a mastectomy (removal of the breast)
• after other treatments, to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back
• to control breast cancer that has come back or spread to other parts of the body (secondary breast cancer).

How Letrozole works

Hormones are chemicals that our bodies make. They help control how cells and organs work. Hormonal therapies are drugs that change the way hormones are made or how they work in the body.

Many breast cancers rely on the hormone oestrogen to grow. This type of breast cancer is called oestrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer.

Letrozole reduces the amount of oestrogen in the body. It blocks an enzyme (a type of protein) that helps produce oestrogen in the fatty tissues of the body.

Before a woman goes through the menopause, oestrogen is also made in the ovaries. You may have other types of hormone therapy if you have not been through the menopause.

Taking Letrozole tablets:

Letrozole comes as tablets you can take at home. You take letrozole once a day, with or without food. Try to take it at the same time each day.

Letrozole is a long-term treatment. You may need to take it for several years.

Side Effects can include:

• Hot flushes and sweats
• Muscle or joint pain
• Tiredness
• Feeling sick
• Indigestion or tummy pain
• Raised Cholesterol level
• Change in appetite
• Hair thinning
• Skin changes
• Mood changes
• Headaches
• Feeling dizzy
• Weight gain
• Vaginal bleeding or dryness
• Diarrhoea
• Constipation
• Bone thinning (osteoporosis)
• Raised blood pressure
• Build up of fluid