Anastrozole in Treating Aromatase Inhibitor Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Female Patients with Stage I-III Breast Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients must be post-menopausal; post-menopausal will be defined as women meeting any of the following criteria: * >= 60 years of age; or * < 60 years of age and amenorrheic for >= 12 months prior to day 1 if uterus/ovaries are intact; or * < 60 years of age, and the last menstrual period 6-12 months prior to day 1, if intact uterus/ovaries and meets biochemical criteria for menopause (follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH] and estradiol within institutional standard for postmenopausal status); or * < 60 years of age, without a uterus, and meets biochemical criteria for menopause (FSH and estradiol within institutional standards for postmenopausal status); or * < 60 years of age and history of bilateral oophorectomy; surgery must have been completed at least 4 weeks prior to day 1; or * Prior radiation castration with amenorrhea for at least 6 months
• NOTE: use of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists (e.g., leuprolide or goserelin) is not allowed
• Patients must have estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive histologically confirmed stage I-III adenocarcinoma of the breast
• Patients must have completed planned local therapy (i.e., definitive surgery and radiation therapy) and adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer prior to registration; in addition, any prior local therapy and adjuvant chemotherapy should be completed prior to participant completion of baseline Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) instruments (i.e., Health Assessment Questionnaire [HAQ], PROMIS Physical Function, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy [FACT] Breast and Endocrine Symptoms [ES], etc.) and collection of optional blood for banking for future research
• NOTE: concomitant treatment with ongoing trastuzumab (Herceptin) or other targeted/biologic agents is allowed; concomitant treatment with any other type of chemotherapy or hormonal therapy is not allowed
• Patients must not have received prior AI therapy with exemestane, letrozole, or anastrozole as preoperative/adjuvant therapy or for prevention of breast cancer; prior tamoxifen is allowed
• Plan to treat with anastrozole for at least 12 months
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status between 0-2
• Patients must be disease-free of other prior invasive malignancies for >= 5 years with the exception of curatively-treated basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or carcinoma in situ of the cervix; prior early stage breast cancers are also allowed as long as prior treatment did not include aromatase inhibitors
• Patients must not be currently taking (or have taken in the past 6 months) medication for active, chronic conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tenosynovitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, gout, fibromyalgia, or severe osteoarthritis involving the hands, wrists, hips, knees, feet or ankles; this includes analgesic medications or medications being taken with the purpose of treating pain or that may have an effect on pain (e.g. anti-depressants for help with pain or neuropathy, corticosteroid shots for arthritis); (Note: patients taking daily low dose aspirin are allowed to participate in this trial)
• Patients must not have a prior history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism in the past 5 years
• Patients must have worst pain rated as no worse than 3 out of 10 on the following question (i.e., a pain score of 0, 1, 2, or 3): “In the past week, how much pain have you had on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 equals no pain and 10 means the worst pain you can imagine; " NOTE: this question regarding patient’s pain should be completed within one week prior to registration; this question may be asked orally prior to consent up to 7 days prior to registration; the response will be recorded on the registration checklist
• Patients must have adequate hepatic, hematologic and renal functioning to be able to be administered anastrozole at the discretion of the treating physician