Experts release cancer guidelines

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Cancer Society joined together to release the first treatment guidelines for women with breast cancer.

Promoted by the organizations as "cancer treatment information for the layperson," the guidelines are pertinent to and intended for physicians as well. Drafted by a panel of National Comprehensive Cancer Network oncology experts from 17 leading cancer centers, the guidelines make specific treatment recommendations about all types and stages of breast cancer for women. (Treatment for male breast cancer, a rare form of cancer that requires different therapies, is not addressed within the guidelines.)

Those who view the guidelines via the American Cancer Society's Web site, www.cancer.org, can wind their way through algorithms or what physicians call "decision trees." Each decision tree is organized according to what stage of cancer is being treated, and it shows patients the step-by-step process by which the patient and doctor arrive at treatment decisions.

Zeneca's Nolvadex (tamoxifen) is referenced throughout the guidelines as adjuvant therapy to chemotherapy. It is the only product specifically mentioned in the guidelines.

For more information on the guidelines, call the National Comprehensive Cancer Network at (888) 909-6226 or the American Cancer Society at (800) 227-2345. PR