Aromatase Inhibitors

Does anyone know the answer to this? If a patient has already failed one aromatase inhibitor, will she fail all aromatase inhibitors? My mother's onc is giving her a choice of going on Femara or Faslodex. But she's already failed Arimidex, so I didn't understand why Femara would be an option since both drugs are AI's. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Stephanie, daughter to Marie

[Becky]

Femara and Arimidex work by very much the same mechanism to inhibit aromatase production. However, Aromosin works by a different mechanism. Therefore, if Arimidex is failing, trying Aromosin might be a better option.


Just my opinion on that.

Best regards

Becky

Thanks, Becky. I actually was just reading up on Aromasin, and was wondering why the onc didn't offer it as an option. I hadn't realized that there are non-steriodal and steriodal AI's, and it would make sense to try the steriodal AI (Aromasin) before leaving AI's and moving on to Faslodex. I didn't think it made any sense to try Femara when Arimidex didn't work.

Thanks for your input--

Stephanie

[suzan w]

is arimidex considered steroidal or non-steroidal ?

[AlaskaAngel]

Arimidex and Femara are nonsteroidals, Aromasin is a steroidal.

I don't like to disagree here with anyone, but Arimidex and Femara are both first-line therapies and Aromasin is second-line therapy (per package insert); patients sometimes ARE changed from one first-line therapy such as Arimidex to another first-line therapy such as Femara before being changed to a second-line therapy such as Aromasin, even though the mechanism of action is more similar between Arimidex and Femara.

Best check directly with a pharmacist, who can take a look at the package insert with you on this.

A.A.

Thanks for the replies. We'll discuss all of this carefully with the oncologist, and we're also scheduled for a second opinion. Initially the onc's only input was "one's an injection and one's a pill". When I started reading up on them, I realized that there are big differences in how the hormone therapies work. My mom's latest scans showed NED, and I'm so scared of blowing that by chosing the wrong drug to go on next.

Stephanie

[Lyn]

Hi, I failed on femara but Aromasin worked for me in getting rid of enlarged lymph glands, it definately stopped eostrogen for me and I have had to stop it now to try and get the BC cells to grow so they can be killed, wierd I know but apparently effective.

Love & Hugs Lyn

Lyn--how do you feel on Aromasin? My mom currently feels lousy on the steriod she takes with the chemo, and wondered if she'd have the edema and blood sugar issues on the Aromasin, too, since it's a steriodal AI.

[Lyn]

Hi there, I have no side effects what so ever, apart from the dryness from no eostrogen, just like a sugar pill. Hope this helps.

Love & Hugs Lyn