My Breakthrough
Hormone treatment
Hormones are natural substances that occur in all our bodies and control the growth and activity of cells in the body. The female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone are essential for normal sexual development, the functioning of female reproductive organs and also help to maintain healthy bones and heart. Oestrogen and progesterone can affect the growth of many breast cancers.
Hormone treatments act to block the production of these female hormones or reduce the ability of cancer cells to respond to the hormones. These therapies can reduce the risk of breast cancer spreading and of a new breast cancer developing.
To find out if your breast cancer will respond to hormone treatment, receptor testing will be carried out on your breast tumour.
If your receptor test is positive, you'll offered hormone treatment with one of these drugs:
All women with positive receptor tests are now advised to have hormone treatment - usually after their lumpectomy or mastectomy operation. Sometimes hormone treatment can be given before surgery to shrink the tumour and make the operation easier. This is called neo-adjuvant treatment. Patients given hormone treatment before surgery are usually older women.
Hormone therapy is usually prescribed for several months or years, however the duration of treatment will vary from person to person. Regular check ups with your doctor are needed throughout the course.
Please note - The hormone treatments used to treat breast cancer are completely different to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) used to treat menopausal symptoms.
To find out if your breast cancer will respond to hormone treatment, receptor testing will be carried out on your breast tumour.
If your receptor test is positive, you'll offered hormone treatment with one of these drugs:
- Anti-oestrogens (e.g: tamoxifen [brand name Nolvadex]
- Aromatase inhibitors (e.g: anastrozole [brand name Arimidex], exemestane [Aromasin], letrozole [Femara])
- Goserelin [Zoladex]
- Progesterones (e.g: medroxyprogesterone acetate [Provera], megesterol acetate [Megace])
All women with positive receptor tests are now advised to have hormone treatment - usually after their lumpectomy or mastectomy operation. Sometimes hormone treatment can be given before surgery to shrink the tumour and make the operation easier. This is called neo-adjuvant treatment. Patients given hormone treatment before surgery are usually older women.
Hormone therapy is usually prescribed for several months or years, however the duration of treatment will vary from person to person. Regular check ups with your doctor are needed throughout the course.
Please note - The hormone treatments used to treat breast cancer are completely different to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) used to treat menopausal symptoms.
Also within "Treatment"
