Medical adrenalectomy with aminoglutethimide in the management of advanced breast cancer.

Sixty-five patients with actively progressing advanced breast cancer were treated with aminoglutethimide, a drug which inhibits adrenal steroid synthesis and decreases peripheral conversion of androgens to oestrogens. Of the 38 patients who have so far been classified, 13 (34%) have experienced objective regression of their disease, while in a further six patients (16%) the disease has become static. The median duration of the objective remission was in excess of 14 months, while in the group with static disease, the median duration of the static condition was longer than eight months. Side effects were either nonexistent or mild in the majority of cases, and the drug was well tolerated. Aminoglutethimide is an important new modality in the treatment of advanced breast cancer.