3-month triptorelin in premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer: a commentary and a retrospective experience

[...]our experience of the use of a 3-month formulation of triptorelin at our Center (Catania Oncology Center, Catania, Italy) is described. Among the 6846 women with ER+ disease, prolonged tamoxifen therapy reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence (617/3428 vs 711/3418; p = 0.002), breast cancer mortality (331 vs 397; p = 0.01) and overall mortality (639 vs 722; p = 0.01). [...]concerns remain as to whether ovarian suppression may improve the possibility to become pregnant after the interruption of therapy(12). [...]assessments of the efficacy and safety of ovarian suppression in this setting may be useful to provide an ever more detailed evaluation of this strategy. In particular, hormonal blockade with triptorelin provided similar benefits as doxorubicin-based chemotherapy in women with intermediate-risk breast cancer(16), and triptorelin-induced temporary ovarian suppression during chemotherapy in premenopausal patients reduced the occurrence of chemotherapy-induced early menopause(17).