Ovarian cancer: hormone replacement therapy increases risk

According to a study published in the weekly Journal of the American Medical Association, women who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increase vulnerability for exposure to breast cancer but are also increase the possibility of becoming a victim of cancer ovaries. And even if the treatment is less than a term of four years.

HRT previously associated with an increased risk of breast cancer

In 2002 a major study devoted to the health of women was prematurely halted when researchers found that HRT increased the risk of exposure of patients with breast cancer. The increased risk was in effect that such experiences were no longer morally acceptable. Therefore, HRT has fallen out of favor in the fight against the symptoms of menopause, and a relationship of cause and effect, the number of cancers has also decreased in corresponding proportions.

Studies conducted at the time, however, have also shown that the long-term use of HRT may put women at greater risk of ovarian cancer, assuming that these risks do not fire, subsequent to a long-term use.

44% more risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer

In the current study, researchers examined between 1995 and 2005, the medical records of 909,946 Danish women aged 50 to 79 years. The findings are clear: women on HRT are at 38% more likely to develop ovarian cancer than women who never used HRT. The risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, the most common form of this cancer, even 44% higher. This is not all researchers announced that HRT has been directly responsible for a case of ovarian cancer over twenty during the period were performed studies. These figures are obviously of concern to the 8300 Danish women currently on HRT.

The current report did not affect the recommendations around the HRT, but Debbie Saslow, the American Cancer Society, which is not involved in the study, recommended for its part, the greatest caution, “the women who are forced to resort to HRT should be limited to the lowest dose possible and treatment duration as short as possible. In all cases it is preferable not to appeal to HRT.

The impact was immediate. Many women trying to avoid the symptoms of menopause and frightened by the HRT are now turning to products with “bio-identical hormones” ingredients from herbal to the detriment of animal hormones. Debbie Saslow, however, also warns against those products where proof of safety has not been reported to date “and does not guarantee greater safety compared to conventional HRT.