Comment & Controversy

How many women must be treated to avert one case?

“THE CASE FOR CHEMOPREVENTION AS A TOOL TO AVERT BREAST CANCER” STEVEN R. GOLDSTEIN, MD (JULY).

In his article about chemoprevention of breast cancer, Dr. Goldstein provided relative-risk tables. I think it would also be helpful to see “need to treat” statistics. That is, how many patients need to take one of these medications to prevent one case of breast cancer? This information is never stated, and I think it is very important information to have if you are a woman trying to decide whether to take one of these expensive drugs.