Postmenopausal estrogen replacement and breast cancer

Article Abstract:

The analysis of women who had been taking estrogen for many years yielded an important finding: estradiol, the most commonly prescribed noncontraceptive form of estrogen, carried nearly double the risk of breast cancer. Evidence that estrogen increases the risk of breast cnacer has been difficult to obtain. The most provocative find of the study is the fourfold increase in the risk of breast cancer in women after more than four years of use of estrogen and a progestin. The addition of a progestin to estrogen is widely recommended for long-term use on the grounds that this combination is necessary to prevent endometrial hyperplasia and uterine cancer. A possibly increased risk of breast cancer in women receiving postmenopausal hormone replacement must be considered in the risk-benefit equation of such treatment.

Prevention, Complications and side effects, Drug therapy, Breast cancer, Menopause, Progestational hormones, Uterine cancer, editorial

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Increased bone mass as a result of estrogen therapy in a man with aromatase deficiency

Article Abstract:

Estrogen appears to be crucial in bone formation in boys as well as in girls. Researchers describe the case of a 24-year-old man who had the bones of a 14-year-old. He had a mutation in the gene for an enzyme that synthesizes estrogen. His male hormone levels were elevated but his estrogen levels were extremely low. He was treated with estrogen, which raised his estrogen levels and lowered his male hormone levels. In addition, his bone mass increased substantially. His sex drive was not adversely affected. The fact that his bone mass increased despite decreasing male hormone levels indicates that male hormones alone are not responsible for bone mass.

Bones, Bone density

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Estrogen and progestin compared with simvastatin for hypercholesterolemia in postmenopausal women

Article Abstract:

Hormone replacement therapy appears to be almost as beneficial in lowering elevated cholesterol as cholesterol-lowering drugs. This was the conclusion of a study in which 58 postmenopausal women with elevated cholesterol took hormone replacement therapy with estrogen and progesterone or the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin for eight weeks and then switched to the other treatment after an eight-week washout period. Hormone replacement therapy lowered total and LDL cholesterol almost as much as simvastatin. Both treatments raised HDL cholesterol but only simvastatin lowered triglyceride levels.

Physiological aspects, Postmenopausal women, Hypercholesterolemia, Simvastatin

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