toremifene vs tamoxifen

Question
My vet has told me about this drug Toremifene when i went in to talk to him
about tamoxifen and lupron for reducuing the growth of my rat sisa's
mammary tumor. (which i believe is benign. i have not done a biopsy but it
has benign characteristics)

i read some good reports about tamoxifen stoping and shrinking malignant
tumors but also working in shrinking some beign tumors as well.
but it has the side effect of causing liver cancer .

Have u heard of Toremifene?
I read it does not cause the liver damage side effects that tamoxifen does.
Can u tell me anything u know about melatonin?
i read that it isn't all that successful in slowing or stopping the growth of
benign tumors.

I think i am going to take my ratty in for lupron to see if it can stop the
growth of her tumor. My vet suggested we try melatonin in combination with
lupron. Unless i can gather some better info that i should use toremifene
instead.

Thanks for any input
jessica  

Answer
Hi


We dont use Toremifene here in the US much.  I did some reading also and it seems to be the same as tamoxifen too. As for Tamoxifen causing liver cancer this is the first I have heard of that.  It may be so with humans but there havent been any reports that it causes liver cancer in pet rats that I know of.  The one thing we worry about is a very nasty uterine infection that may occur with long term use of tamoxifen. I am happy to report I have never seen this occur with any of the rats that     were treated with it, either.

As far as melatonin, dont bother wasting the rats time. I have no documented proof that it does anything at all but waste precious time.

Myself, I love lupron depot the most for benign tumors, and in most cases, that is why these tumor are as nasty as it seems. It is a once a month injection at the vets or even given at home in the flank which is the ideal area for injections on rats due to the fact there is the most "meat" in that area. Either way, the fact it is an injection that is given once a month which is really nice.

Is this her first tumor? How old is she? Has she been healthy all of her life? How often is she subjected to a dark room in a  24 hour period?