Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a common treatment procedure for postmenopausal women who want to get back to a normal life. Currently HRT had
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a common treatment procedure for postmenopausal women who want to get back to a normal life. Currently HRT had been under a lot of flak as time and again it has been associated to heath risks. The newest health risk of the treatment is the risk of endometrial cancer.
Endomertial cancer is the cancer that forms in the endometrial lining of the uterus. This form of cancer is found mostly in postmenopausal women.The research came out in the current issue of The Lancet, as part of a greater study called Million Women Study. The researchers had studied more than 70,000 postmenopausal women in UK without previous cancer or previous hysterectomy.
Of the 45% women who had used the HRT, the risk of having endometrial cancer was greater for women who had taken oestrogens and tibolone in their treatment. Hormone progestagens did counteract the unfavorable effect of oestrogens on the endometrium. However, the combined effects of oestrogen-progestagen HRT had increased the risk of breast cancer in women.
When the combined risks of both breast cancer and endometrial cancer are taken together, the results show a greater incidence of cancer with the combination HRT, both in continuum and cyclic, than compared to other therapies.
