Tamoxifen May Cut Lung Cancer Deaths

Tamoxifen, the medication long used to prevent the growth of breast cancer tumors, also appears to reduce the risk of dying from lung cancer, research suggests.

If the link bears out in future studies, giving tamoxifen for lung cancermay become another option for doctors, the researchers say.

The team of Swiss and French researchers followed more than 6,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2003. The researchers found that women on tamoxifen for their breast cancer who also contracted lung cancer were 87% less likely to die from the lung cancer than women who weren't on tamoxifen.

"A reduction of 87% is definitely more than modest," according to a Dr.

The study is published online in the journal Cancer.