Hormone replacement therapy may be linked to cancer, but what about hormone suppression?
Hormonal therapy, known as hormone deprivation therapy, uses aromatase inhibitors to lower estrogen levels, “starving” tumors that need these hormones to grow, according to an ongoing study led by doctors at Baltimore?s Mercy Medical Center.
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The inhibitors “prevent the breast cancer from coming back,” Dr. Kathy Helzlsouer, director of the prevention and research center at Mercy.
Vitamin D helps prevent cancer, but levels vary for black and white women due to skin pigmentation. black women have “less Vitamin D because skin pigment blocks the sun,” Helzlsouer said.
Is Vitamin D a factor, or is there a biological reason? The study hopes to answer these questions.
“We know the medicine works. ? how do we get people through treatment easier,” Helzlsouer said.
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, according to the National Cancer Institute Web site.
Mercy is enrolling participants, including women with and without breast cancer and black and white women who have been through menopause. Enrollment of patients began last summer and will continue for another year.
The Study
Study participants can enroll for another year and will be followed on their medication for five years. Contact Dr. Kathy Helzlsouer at 410-951-7950.
