Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: iliang_ophthal@yahoo.com.my
  • 2 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: visvaraja@um.edu.my
  • 4 Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; University of Malaya Centre for Data Analytics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Surgery, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Oncology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Breast, 2018 Jun;39:117-122.
PMID: 29660599 DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2018.04.003

Abstract

It is now increasingly common for breast cancer patients to receive adjuvant tamoxifen therapy for a period of up to 10 years. As survival rate increases, managing tamoxifen ocular toxicities is important for patients' quality of life. Macular pigments in photoreceptor cells protect against free radical damage, which can cause macular degeneration. By reducing macular pigment concentration, tamoxifen may increase the risk of macular degeneration. Here, we compared macular pigment optical density (MPOD) and central macular thickness between breast cancer patients on tamoxifen adjuvant therapy (n = 70), and a control group (n = 72). Multiple regression analysis indicated that MPOD decreases with increasing tamoxifen dosage, up to a threshold of about 20 g, after which MPOD plateaus out. Mean MPOD in the treatment group (mean = 0.40) was significantly lower (p-value = 0.02) compared to the control group (mean = 0.47) for the left eye, and for the right eye (treatment mean = 0.39; control mean = 0.48; p-value = 0.009). No significant difference in mean central macular thickness was found between the treatment and the control group (p-values > 0.4). In the control group, MPOD and central macular thickness showed significant correlation (r∼0.30; p-values 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.