Does Hormone Replacement Therapy Impact the Prognosis in Endometrial Cancer Survivors? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the prognosis in endometrial cancer (EC) survivors.

Methods: The research was conducted using the following electronic databases: MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, ClinicalTrial.gov, and Cochrane Library. We performed a review of studies published from January 1986 to January 2019. We selected studies that included EC patients submitted to surgery with curative intent and postoperative use of HRT.

Result: Seven of 1,332 abstracts considered were eligible: 4 retrospective series, 1 prospective study, 1 randomized controlled trial, and 1 population study. Globally in the observed studies there was not a significant increase in the recurrence rate, measured by the relative risk, in the EC survivors using HRT compared with the controls in tumour stages I and II. The bias was that HRT was prescribed only to low-risk patients, who were young and had a low stage of disease.

Conclusion: This systematic review shows that HRT use had no negative effect on prognosis in EC survivors in tumour stages I and II.

Keywords: Endometrial cancer; Hormone replacement therapy; Oestrogen therapy.