Department of Surgery and Oncology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Anticancer Res. 2012 Jun;32(6):2331-6.
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are important therapeutic drugs for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, adverse effects of AIs such as arthralgia have been extensively reported. We performed a joint prospective, multi-institutional investigation to find out whether a low-dose and short-term prednisolone is effective against AI-induced arthralgia in 27 patients with breast cancer. Patients were administered 5 mg of oral prednisolone once a day in the morning for only one week. Patients were then asked to answer a questionnaire about joint pain symptoms at one week, one month and two months after the beginning of prednisolone use. Joint pain symptoms improved in 67% of patients immediately after prednisolone use, with 63% still reporting analgesic effect at one month, and 52% at two months after beginning internal use of prednisolone. At one week, one month and two months after the use of prednisolone, 30%, 30% and 26% of patients reported improved daily life, respectively. Our results suggest that prednisolone could substitute non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetoaminophen or cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in patients with AI-induced arthralgia.
芳香化酶抑制剂（AIs）是治疗绝经后激素受体阳性乳腺癌妇女的重要治疗药物。然而，已经广泛报道了 AIs 的不良反应，如关节痛。我们进行了一项联合前瞻性、多机构研究，以确定低剂量和短期泼尼松龙是否对 27 例乳腺癌患者的 AI 诱导性关节痛有效。患者每天早晨口服 5 毫克泼尼松龙，仅使用一周。然后，患者被要求在开始使用泼尼松龙后一周、一个月和两个月回答有关关节疼痛症状的问卷。泼尼松龙使用后立即有 67%的患者关节痛症状改善，63%的患者在一个月后仍有镇痛作用，52%的患者在开始使用泼尼松龙后两个月后仍有镇痛作用。在使用泼尼松龙后的一周、一个月和两个月，分别有 30%、30%和 26%的患者报告日常生活改善。我们的结果表明，泼尼松龙可以替代非甾体抗炎药、醋氨酚或环氧化酶-2 抑制剂，用于治疗 AI 诱导的关节痛。
