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Taking a common breast cancer drug longer than usual can further reduce deaths from the disease, a new study says. The research focused on a group of 6,846 women with a type of breast cancer that grows in response to the hormone estrogen. When the study began, they already had taken the drug tamoxifen for 5 years, the standard treatment. Tamoxifen blocks the effects of estrogen on breast cancer. It helps to keep the cancer from returning after surgery. In the study, the women were randomly assigned to stick to standard treatment or to take tamoxifen for another 5 years. By the end of the study, cancer had returned in 25% of women who took the drug for 5 years and 21% of those who took it for 10 years. About 12% of the women who extended tamoxifen treatment died of breast cancer, compared with 15% of the women who stopped after 5 years.

A new drug may help to prevent blood clots in the legs without causing a risk of bleeding, new research suggests. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a blood clot that forms in a vein. If it travels to the lungs, heart or brain, it can be deadly. After hospital treatment, people with VTE take warfarin (Coumadin) for 6 to 12 months to help keep new clots away. The risk of new clots continues after this time. But people don’t take warfarin longer because of a risk of bleeding. The new study included nearly 2,500 people who had completed standard treatment with warfarin after VTE. They were randomly assigned to receive apixaban or placebo (fake pills) twice a day. Apixaban reduces the risk of clots in a different way than warfarin. During the next year, 9% of those taking the placebo and 1.7% of those taking apixaban had a new VTE.

“Hands-only” CPR saves more lives than the traditional kind that includes mouth-to-mouth breathing, a new study finds. In 2008, the American Heart Association said that people giving CPR should stick with doing firm, rapid pushes on the chest. It said “rescue breaths” were not necessary. The hope was that this would get more people to do CPR. Early research also showed it was effective. The new study included 1,300 people who had a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. In each case, someone saw the person collapse. Bystanders gave shocks from an automated defibrillator and also did CPR. Of those who got hands-only CPR, 46% were alive a month after their cardiac arrest. About 40% of those who got traditional CPR with rescue breaths were alive. More people kept good brain function with hands-only CPR — about 40%, compared with 33% of those who got rescue breaths.