Incidence of arthralgia syndrome (AS) related to aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer (EBC)

e11603 Background: Anastozole (A) and letrozole (L) are standard drugs in up-front adjuvant endocrine therapy in postmenopausal hormone positive EBC. AIs have a higher incidence of osteoporosis, bone fractures and musculoskeletal symptoms, particularly joint pain and stiffness (AS) respect to tamoxifen. The real incidence of AS can be underestimated respect to data derived from clinical trials. Methods: From 1/07 to 12/07 we registered all patients (pts) taking A or L as adjuvant therapy for at least 3 months. We screened 47 pts, 3 pts refused to participate at the study and 2 resulted metastatic. A total of 42 pts were enrolled. The median age was 67 yrs (range 51–89), the median time since menopause was 11 yrs (range 1–48). 30 pts had natural menopause, 7 surgical menopause and 5 reported chemo-induced menopause. 25 pts took A and 17 pts took L. The median duration on therapy was 19 months (range 3–68) and 31 pts had received chemotherapy (9 CMF, 17 anthra-based, 5 anthra-taxane based). Results: 11 pts ...