Study: Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer Should Halt HRT

Women who develop breast cancer while on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) should halt taking the drugs because tumors grow more slowly when the hormone estrogen is withdrawn, according to British researchers.

In a study reported in the journal Cancer, the researchers focused on 140 women treated for breast cancer between 1996 and 2000 who all had been taking HRT at the time of diagnosis.

One hundred twenty five stopped taking the hormones upon learning they had cancer -- the course commonly recommended by doctors in the United States -- but the other 15 continued taking HRT until they had breast cancer surgery up to a month later.

Of the 125 women who stopped HRT, 106 had breast cancer that was sensitive to estrogen. Twelve of the 15 women who continued taking hormones had estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.

Cancers that grew faster in the presence of estrogen slowed down markedly in the women who stopped taking HRT between diagnosis and surgery, the researchers reported. For women whose cancer was not estrogen-sensitive, continuing HRT did not make any difference.

Other Sources: Cancer