Serum Estradiol Levels In Postmenopausal Women With Breast Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Aromatase Inhibitors and Vaginal Estrogen

The purpose of this study is to see if Vagifem® 10mcg is safe for women who have had breast cancer. Vagifem is an estrogen product. It is a tiny tablet that is inserted into the vagina. It relieves vaginal dryness. Women who have had breast cancer are usually told not to take estrogen. This is because estrogen use can lead to a breast cancer recurrence or a new primary breast cancer. It is unclear if the estrogen in Vagifem is only absorbed in the vagina. It may be absorbed into the blood stream for a short time and may cause a brief rise in your estrogen level. However, there is no clear evidence that this would cause any bad effects in patients with breast cancer. How much, if any, of these topical estrogens are absorbed through the vagina is not known. We also do not know what the impact is of low dose estrogen absorption on breast cancer outcomes. Also, the absorption should decrease as the mucus membranes are restored after estrogen exposure.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Breast Cancer; Atrophic Vaginitis
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Vagifem® (vaginal 17β-estradiol) questionnaire & menopause symptom checklist

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 31
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Jersey
    • Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • New York
    • Commack, New York, United States, 11725
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center @ Suffolk
    • New York, New York, United States, 10065
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    • Rockville Centre, New York, United States
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering at Mercy Medical Center
    • Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center@Phelps Memorial Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• History of breast cancer, stages I-III with pathology confirmed at MSKCC
• Women who have completed all of their primary treatment (surgery, radiation therapy, adjuvant chemotherapy) with the exception of endocrine therapy and currently have no clinical evidence of disease.
• Women who are currently on aromatase inhibitors for at least three months--either letrozole or anastrozole
• Women with symptomatic urogenital atrophy: vaginal dryness, irritation, pruritus, dyspareunia, urinary frequency and/or urinary incontinence

• Menopausal at study entry defined as:

  • Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy independent of age
  • If natural menopause, age ≥ 50 with cessation of menses for at least 12 months
  • If menopause induced by chemotherapy, age ≥ 50 with no menstrual period at least 12 months after chemotherapy finished
• At least 18 years of age
• Able to participate in the informed consent process
• Gynecology examination within six months
• Able to read/speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to give informed consent
• Vaginal bleeding of unknown etiology within 12 months of study entry
• History of prior vaginal 17-β estradiol or other topical estrogen use within the past six months

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: vaginal 17β-estradiol, questionnaire , symptom checklist; This is a prospective longitudinal pilot study, and the targeted patient population is postmenopausal women with breast cancer being treated with adjuvant aromatase inhibitors who are initiated on vaginal 17β-estradiol to relieve symptoms of atrophic vaginitis.

Drug: Vagifem® (vaginal 17β-estradiol) questionnaire & menopause symptom checklist; The goal is to have 30 patients on letrozole and 30 on anastrozole who are initiated on vaginal estrogen for symptoms of urogenital atrophy. All subjects will receive 10mcg vaginal 17-β estradiol tablets. Each subject will serve as her own control. We will monitor serum estradiol and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels closely from 0-24 weeks. We will measure serum estradiol and FSH levels at baseline, and subsequently at weeks 2, 7, 12, 18 and 24 after commencing therapy with 10mcg vaginal 17-β estradiol.; Other Names: The bloodwork will take less than one hour to perform and will be drawn +/- 72hrs from the date the; patient is due for bloodwork.Baseline bloodwork will be drawn within 14 days of study enrollment prior to the initiation of vaginal 25μg 17- β estradiol.; Patients will be encouraged to come for their research bloodwork 12-24 hours after the insertion of the vaginal 25μg 17- β estradiol tablets.; Patients will record in their diary the time of their last vaginal 10μg 17- β estradiol; tablet insertion. Since we do not know the clinical significance of transient; estradiol elevation in these patients, both the patients and the investigators; will be blinded to the results of these assays for the 24 weeks of study; therapy. We will administer the FSFI survey questionnaire and menopause symptom; checklist at baseline, week 12 and week 24.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Serum Estradiol From Baseline to Week 12	To determine the change in estradiol and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from baseline to twelve weeks in postmenopausal women receiving adjuvant aromatase inhibitors during treatment with low dose vaginal 10 µg 17- β estradiol.	12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
To Compare the Rise in Estradiol in Women on Letrozole vs. Anastrozole During Treatment With Low Dose Vaginal 10 µg 17- β Estradiol to See if There Are Differences Between Aromatase Inhibitors.		12 weeks
Change in Serum Estradiol Baseline to Week 24	To describe patterns of estradiol over the twenty-four week study period.	24 weeks
Change in FSH Levels Baseline to Week 24	To describe patterns of FSH levels over the twenty-four week study period.	24 weeks
To Compare the Patient's Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) Scores and Menopause Quality of Life Questionnaire at Baseline	The FSFI measures six domains of sexual function: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. An increase in FSFI score means better sexual function. The individual domain scores and full scale score of the FSFI are derived by the computational formula outlined in the table below. Individual domain scores are obtained by adding the scores of the individual items that comprise the domain and multiplying the sum by the domain factor (see below). The full scale score is obtained by adding the six domain scores. It should be noted that within the individual domains, a domain score of zero indicates that no sexual activity was reported during the past month. Domain Questions Score range Factor Minimum score Maximum score Desire 1, 2 1-5 0.6 1.2 6.0 Arousal 3, 4, 5, 6 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Lubrication 7, 8, 9, 10 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Orgasm 11, 12, 13 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Satisfaction 14, 15, 16 0 (or 1)-5 0.4 0 6.0 Pain 17, 18, 19 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Full Scale Score Range 2.0 36.0	Baseline
To Compare the Patient's Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) Scores and Menopause Quality of Life Questionnaire at Baseline, Week 12	The FSFI measures six domains of sexual function: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. An increase in FSFI score means better sexual function. The individual domain scores and full scale score of the FSFI are derived by the computational formula outlined in the table below. Individual domain scores are obtained by adding the scores of the individual items that comprise the domain and multiplying the sum by the domain factor (see below). The full scale score is obtained by adding the six domain scores. It should be noted that within the individual domains, a domain score of zero indicates that no sexual activity was reported during the past month. Domain Questions Score range Factor Minimum score Maximum score Desire 1, 2 1-5 0.6 1.2 6.0 Arousal 3, 4, 5, 6 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Lubrication 7, 8, 9, 10 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Orgasm 11, 12, 13 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Satisfaction 14, 15, 16 0 (or 1)-5 0.4 0 6.0 Pain 17, 18, 19 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Full Scale Score Range 2.0 36.0	Week 12
To Compare the Patient's Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) Scores and Menopause Quality of Life Questionnaire at Baseline, Week 24	The FSFI measures six domains of sexual function: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. The individual domain scores and full scale score of the FSFI are derived by the computational formula outlined in the table below. Individual domain scores are obtained by adding the scores of the individual items that comprise the domain and multiplying the sum by the domain factor (see below). The full scale score is obtained by adding the six domain scores. It should be noted that within the individual domains, a domain score of zero indicates that no sexual activity was reported during the past month. Domain Questions Score range Factor Minimum score Maximum score Desire 1, 2 1-5 0.6 1.2 6.0 Arousal 3, 4, 5, 6 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Lubrication 7, 8, 9, 10 0-5 0.3 0 6.0 Orgasm 11, 12, 13 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Satisfaction 14, 15, 16 0 (or 1)-5 0.4 0 6.0 Pain 17, 18, 19 0-5 0.4 0 6.0 Full Scale Score Range 2.0 36.0	Week 24

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Shari Goldfarb, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 22, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 13, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): May 13, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 24, 2009
• First Posted (Estimated): September 25, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 9, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 21, 2025
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Postmenopausal; vaginitis; 17-β estradiol; 09-110
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Genital Diseases; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Genital Diseases, Female; Skin Diseases; Breast Diseases; Vaginal Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Vaginitis; Atrophic Vaginitis; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Investigative Techniques; Epidemiologic Methods; Data Collection; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Public Health; Environment and Public Health; Polycyclic Compounds; Steroids; Fused-Ring Compounds; Estrenes; Estranes; Estradiol Congeners; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Gonadal Hormones; Estradiol; Surveys and Questionnaires
• Other Study ID Numbers: 09-110