New estrogen study. Stopping hormone therapy seems to offer little diagnostic benefit, says a study in the June 2 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
When post-menopausal women take such hormones as estrogen and progestin, their breast tissue becomes more dense, making mammograms more difficult to interpret. The study looked at whether stopping hormone therapy before having a mammogram would reduce the chance that a woman will need to be recalled for further testing. It involved 1,704 women who averaged 60 years old and had been taking hormone therapy for at least a year. All were scheduled for a mammogram, and they were randomly assigned to stop taking the hormones one month before the mammogram, to stop two months before or to continue taking the hormones. Breast density declined slightly among those who stopped hormone therapy.
However, recall rates showed little variation among the groups: About 11 percent of the women still taking hormones needed another mammogram, as did 12 percent of those who stopped one month before their mammogram and 10 percent who stopped two months before. Women who stopped taking the hormones reported an increase in menopausal symptoms.
Who may be affected? Post- menopausal women taking hormone therapy to replace female hormones lost in the aging process and quell menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, disrupted sleep, urinary infections and painful intercourse. Long-term use of hormone therapy, however, can increase the risk for heart attack, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer.
Caveats: Data on menopausal symptoms and hormone use came from the women’s responses on questionnaires. More than 60 percent of the women invited to participate in the study refused because they did not want to stop taking hormones, even temporarily. The Washington Post
