New findings have found exemestane (Aromasin) may reduce breast cancer recurrence among premenopausal women compared with tamoxifen when given along with ovarian suppression.

Based on the global study released, "hormone suppressor, exemestane, reduces the risk of further breast cancer after surgery in young women by 34 percent, when compared with tamoxifen, a standard hormone treatment for preventing recurrence in young women with hormone-responsive breast cancer."

The study combined the analysis of two Phase III clinical trials indicating exemestane, an aromatase inhibitor (AI) has proven to have better results than tamoxifen at reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence in women with early stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

The results of tamoxifen and exemestane trial (TEXT) and the suppression of ovarian function trial (SOFT), involving nearly 5,000 women across 27 countries, have shown that the combination of exemestane with ovarian function suppression (OFS) in premenopausal breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive disease results in 34 percent risk reduction.

The findings have the potential to change how medical practitioners approach breast cancer treatment for younger women, according to Medical Oncologist Associate Prof. Prue Francis of Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

"Pre-menopausal women with hormone-responsive breast cancer may have a poorer long-term prognosis because the hormone, oestrogen, produced by the ovaries, can stimulate the growth of cancer cells."

He revealed 80 percent of breast cancer cases under the age of 50 are hormone-responsive making the findings' implications very broad.

"Results of our studies show that, among women who had their breast cancer surgically removed, 88.8 per cent of those treated with tamoxifen and oestrogen suppression remained free from breast cancer after five years, compared to 92.8 per cent of women treated with exemestane and oestrogen suppression, a one-third reduction in absolute risk."

Dr. Larry Norton, medical director of the breast center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City said, "It's another option," as quoted in MedPage Today.

"There are reasons why someone might not want to take tamoxifen, just as there are reasons why somebody might want to take tamoxifen. Those are going to enable individualized decisions."

But specialists warned it's also vital that the quality of life be checked as ovarian suppression has several impacts on women, including side effects of menopause-like symptoms, bone loss and increased risk of heart diseases.

The findings were presented during the prestigious plenary session of the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, and concurrently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.