Study: Hormone replacement therapy doesn’t re-trigger breast cancer in survivors

 By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Hormone replacement therapy doesn't re-trigger breast cancer among survivors - despite previous fears, according to a new study.

Many doctors caution breast cancer survivors against using menopausal HRT following the demonstration of an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence in two trials in the 1990s.

But the latest findings, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, show that menopausal hormone replacement therapy for breast cancer survivors is not associated with a reoccurrence of the condition - despite worries among some doctors and researchers.

Hot flushes, night sweats and urinary tract infections are among health issues that plague breast cancer survivors.

The debilitating symptoms worsen the quality of life and can lead patients to discontinue their therapy.

The symptoms may be alleviated by hormone replacement therapy. However, the safety of hormone use among breast cancer survivors, particularly those with estrogen receptor-positive disease, has been unclear.

Although subsequent research since the two trials in the 1990s has not shown increased recurrence, the studies had serious limitations, including small sample sizes and short follow-up periods.

Now researchers have investigated the association between hormonal treatment with the risk of breast cancer recurrence and mortality in a large group of more than 8,000 Danish postmenopausal women treated for early-stage estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

The study included data from postmenopausal women, diagnosed between 1997 and 2004 with early-stage breast cancer who received no treatment or five years of hormone therapy, as ascertained from Denmark’s national prescription registry.

The researchers found no increase in the risk of recurrence or death for those who received either estrogen therapy or menopausal hormone therapy.

Dr. Elizabeth Cathcart-Rake, a breast oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, said of the Danish findings: “This large cohort study helps to inform the nuanced discussions between clinicians and breast cancer survivors about the safety of vaginal estrogen therapy.

“These results suggest that breast cancer survivors on tamoxifen with severe genitourinary symptoms can take vaginal estrogen therapy without experiencing an increase in their risk for breast cancer recurrence.

"However, caution is still advised when considering vaginal estrogen for breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitors, or when considering menopausal hormonal therapy.”