Hormone Replacement Therapy - The Link to Breast Cancer

Women with ER+ (short for estrogen receptor positive) breast cancer may reduce their risk of breast cancers if they stop HRT shortly after or before diagnosis, at least according to a new study. When using hormone replacement therapies during menopause, at least according to a study published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, women with ER+ breast cancer were more likely to develop severe forms of or recurring cancer.

Many women have heard hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is bad, but why would it affect breast cancer? Still other studies suggest HRT therapy may be very helpful for certain women, especially those undergoing severe menopause. So how does a woman decide whether HRT therapy is safe for them?

Let's find out.

Breast Cancer Rates and HRT Therapy
As women age, especially during menopause, their bodies produce declining levels of important hormones including estrogen. Women who are 45 and older are more likely to develop breast cancer because of this and many other factors. Many researchers encouraged HRT as a means of reducing the side effects or symptoms of early menopause, including hot flashes, weight gain and insomnia.

For some women, HRT proved positive.

When HRT was introduced however, researchers began to notice over the years that the number of women diagnosed with ER+ breast cancer began to rise despite a previous decline in breast cancer rates (following the introduction of mammography and other technology to identify tumors). What does this mean? HRT may help increase the risk of breast cancer or the spread of ER+ breast cancer in certain women.

Naturally, other developments have also lead to a reduction in all types of breast cancer in women, including early education about breast cancer, self examination and the use of mammography in women to detect tumors. It is important to note however, HRT has a distinct effect on women with ER+ tumors rather than those with ER negative tumors. Why the difference?

Women with ER positive tumors are women that have cancer requiring estrogen to grow, multiply and infect other areas of the body. That means if a woman stops taking HRT therapy, which introduces more hormones into the body, especially estrogen, naturally she deprives cancer cells that are ER+ of what they need to grow.