What is the menopausal status of breast cancer

Some drugs for treating breast cancer are only suitable for postmenopausal women, such as Letrozole and Arimidex in endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Menopause is a normal physiological phenomenon for women, but the definition of menopause varies greatly in different books. Therefore, breast cancer patients need to identify whether they are in menopausal status before they can further determine whether they can use certain drugs for treatment.

Menopause generally refers to the permanent cessation of menstruation, and is also used to describe the persistent decrease in ovarian estrogen during breast cancer treatment. There are several clear definitions of menopause:

1. After bilateral oophorectomy;

2. Aged 60 or above;

3. Aged less than 60 years, but with amenorrhea for more than 12 months, and not receiving chemotherapy, tamoxifen, toremifene or ovarian function suppression treatment, and FSH and estradiol levels are within the postmenopausal range;

4. Aged less than 60 years, currently taking tamoxifen or toremifene, FSH and estradiol levels should be within the postmenopausal range;

5. Patients who are receiving LH-RH agonist or antagonist treatment cannot be judged as menopausal;

6. For premenopausal women who are receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, amenorrhea cannot be used as a basis for judging menopause, because although patients stop ovulating or experience amenorrhea after chemotherapy, their ovarian function may still be normal or may recover. For women with amenorrhea caused by chemotherapy, if aromatase inhibitors are considered as endocrine therapy, oophorectomy or continuous FSH and/or estradiol levels need to be tested multiple times to ensure that the patient is in a postmenopausal state.