Is Hormone Therapy The Same As HRT?
The answer is NO. Contrary to popular knowledge, hormone therapy is not the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that we know of. It is completely different from hormone replacement therapy as it works against hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. HRT is a medication prescribed to battle symptoms of menopause. It is not a breast cancer treatment and it is considered relatively unsafe, particularly for women already diagnosed with breast cancer.
Hormone therapy medicines are used to treat hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers.
Hormone therapy medicines are used to treat hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers. This type of medication works in two ways: it lowers the amount of the hormone estrogen in your body and it blocks the action of estrogen on breast cancer cells.
The larger quantity of estrogen in your body is produced in your ovaries. Your estrogen hormones naturally react to hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers by making them grow. Theoretically, by reducing the amount of estrogen or blocking its action through hormone replacement can reduce the risk of early-stages of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers. If you are a patient who has had a history of breast cancer and has already undergone surgery, hormone therapy reduces your risk of the cancer from recurring. Hormone therapy medicines are also be used to shrink or slow the growth of “advanced-stage” or metastatic hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers. They are not, however, effective in busting hormone-receptor-negative breast cancers.
Hormone replacement therapy, on the other hand, is a prescription medication that is used to increase your estrogen levels. It was originally designed for women who were believed to be estrogen deficient due to menopause.
Is taking hormone replacement therapy that risky?
A random study conducted in Sweden in 1997 which was led by Dr. Lars Holmberg of the University Hospital in Uppsala, showed that breast cancer survivors who took hormone replacement therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms had more than three times as many breast cancer recurrences as survivors who did not take HRT. This study took place for a period of 2 years but was abruptly stopped way ahead of schedule due to the findings.
Originally, the researchers intended to follow the women for a median of five years. After a median follow-up of just over two years, however, they found that 26 women in the HRT group (and only seven in the non-HRT group) had a recurrence of breast cancer. The study was terminated immediately with the conclusion that even short-term use of HRT posed an “unacceptably high risk” of breast cancer recurrence.
Similarly, in July 9, 2002, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) prematurely terminated the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study on estrogen/progesterone replacement because of the adverse effects it caused to the sample population. The study revealed that women taking HRT had increased risks of heart attacks, strokes, and thromboembolic events. It was then concluded that the disadvantages of HRT definitely outweigh its beneficial effects, and recommended that the study be discontinued.
The report was posted on the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)’ web site that same day, and was later published.
Hormone therapy is now being recommended for treatment of breast cancer resulting from prolonged use of hormone replacement therapy.
There are several types of hormone therapy medicines, examples of which are: aromatase inhibitors, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and estrogen receptor down regulators.
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