Post-menopausal women who have taken a certain type of hormone replacement therapy (with conjugated equine estrogens onlythe so-called CEE) face greater risks of both developing ovarian cancer and dying from it, while those who have used another type (conjugated equine estrogens combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate or MPA) are not only safe, but also less likely to develop uterine cancer. These are the conclusions reached by a study presented in recent days in Chicago during the annual congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
HRT and cancer risk
The link between hormone replacement therapy (in acronym TOS) and breast cancer has been one of the main fears of women since, in 2002, a large American study observed a slight increase in breast cancer cases in women taking estrogens and progestins. Since then a climate of strong distrust towards hormone replacement therapy which, however, it is not justified: the increased risk of breast cancer, in fact, is very small; it also refers to estimates conducted on women who have been hired drugs little used in Italy, where molecules closer to those naturally produced by the body are preferred, and at higher doses than those in use in our country. «Several studies have also indicated a slightly greater risk of endometrial cancer linked to therapies based on the administration of estrogen alone which are no longer prescribed today – he says Alessandra Gennari, full professor of Oncology at the University of Eastern Piedmont -. Furthermore, there are studies started many years ago that refer to “old” drugs (now considered obsolete). That is: if in the past the risk was there, even if rather low, today with theuse of modern hormone therapies replacements is even more limited.”
The new study
For their investigation, the Californian researchers analyzed the data of over 24 thousand women aged between 50 and 79, collected between 1993 and 1998 and extrapolated from the registers of the Women’s Health Initiative. Hormone replacement therapy was followed for 5.6 years in the group taking CEE and MPA and for 7.2 years in the group taking CEE only. Twenty years later, it emerged that women who took HRT with only conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) had a twice the risk of developing ovarian cancer and three times more likely to die from cancer than those who had not taken HRT. While in the group that had taken CEE and medroxyprogesterone acetate or MPA a 28% reduced risk of developing uterine cancer. «These data confirm that HRT as prescribed in Italy, i.e combined estrogen-progestin, it is the safest solution – comments Gennari -. It’s important carry out hormone replacement therapy in strictly necessary cases indicated by the doctor, at the minimum effective doses, with latest generation productswhile alleviating the symptoms of menopause.”
