ABSTRACT
The strongest risk factor for breast cancer is age; more than 75% of breast cancers occur in postmenopausal women. Hormonal factors such as early age at menarche, late age at menopause and late age at first term pregnancy, as well as the use of hormone replacement therapy, and genetic factors including a family history of breast or ovarian cancer or known mutations in breast cancer-related genes, also increase the risk of developing the disease. Hormonal therapy of breast cancer is the oldest form of systemic therapy of a cancer, and the first receptor-targeted therapy. Long before rational drug design was feasible, hormonal therapy of breast cancer demonstrated that targeted therapies could be potent antitumor agents with minimal side-effects. Non-hormonal options with proven efficacy against hot flushes in women with a history of breast cancer include venlafaxine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and Clonidine.
