Dec 15, 2008 8:45 pm US/Eastern
Hormone Replacement And Its Link To Breast Cancer
NEW YORK (WBZ) ―
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Inflammatory breast cancer is not detectable with a mammogram.
CBS
It's what Phylis Smith isn't taking that may just be keeping her cancer free. When the 61-year-old started menopause, doctors said not to take hormones because breast cancer ran in her family.
And now a new study finds that hormone replacement therapy is directly connected to a high risk of breast cancer.
Researchers at UCLA found that women who took a combination of estrogen and progestin for more than five years were twice as likely to develop the disease. "We're talking about increasing their risk by 200 percent," said Dr. Alison Estabrook, Chief of Breast Surgery.
Plus, there was also an immediate decrease in the risk once patients stopped taking the hormones. And within only two years, a patient's risk was back to where it started.
In comparison, when you stop smoking, it takes 10 to 15 years for the risk to come down. "This is reversible," said Estabrook. "So if you take estrogen and progesterone for a few years, then you can stop them and your risk will go back down."
Although short tem use of the combined hormone treatments showed very little breast cancer risk, leading doctors believe the study will alter how hormones are given. "Doctors are more hesitant to prescribe them," said Estabrook.
Doctors urge if you do take hormone replacement therapy, get regular mammograms and sonograms. "It's your life and you have to be your own advocate," said Estabrook.
For Phylis, vigilance is the key to protecting her health well into her golden years.
The researchers who did this study came to the conclusions using "old" numbers. They took another look at the study that ended in 2002, but instead of looking at just the number of cancer cases, they looked at when they were diagnosed and compared that to when the patients started hormone replacement therapy.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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