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Introduction: Over recent years a series of aromatase inhibitors have been developed with high levels of potency, specificity and tolerability which allow the effective ablation of steroidal oestrogen production in postmenopausal women. These agents are presently in widespread use only in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer, but their potential future uses are numerous and possibly of great significance. This personal view of possible future applications will deal with advanced disease, adjuvant treatment, primary medical treatment, prevention strategies and lastly, what I have termed biological strategies.

Advanced disease: Which agent?: Until recently the only widely available aromatase inhibitor has been the prototype inhibitor, aminoglutethimide (AG). Use of this drug allowed aromatase inhibition to be established as an effective means of treatment (Santen et al. 1978, Stuart-Harris et al. 1984), but AG suffers from low specificity for its target, clinically significant side-effects and the requirement