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Review
. 2024 Sep 26;16(19):3267.
doi: 10.3390/cancers16193267.

Menopausal Hormone Therapy in Breast Cancer Survivors

Rose Culhane  1 , Alexandra M Zaborowski  1 , Arnold D K Hill  1
Affiliations
Review

Menopausal Hormone Therapy in Breast Cancer Survivors

Rose Culhane et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Menopausal symptoms negatively impact quality of life in breast cancer survivors. The paucity of data on the impact of Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) on oncological outcomes in these patients limits informed clinical discussion. Defining the risk of cancer recurrence with MHT is central to the appraisal of risk/benefit, particularly with low-risk disease (based on genomic profile). The aim of this review is to summarize the current data evaluating MHT in breast cancer patients. A systematic review of the literature was performed to evaluate the impact of MHT on oncological outcomes in breast cancer survivors. Three major databases (PubMed, EMBASE and Medline) were searched. The review included all prospective studies published in English. Four randomized control trials and four non-randomized prospective studies were identified. An increase in breast cancer recurrence with MHT was observed in the early randomized trials whilst no increased risk of recurrence was reported in the observational studies. There remains a need to quantify MHT-related recurrence risk in patients with molecularly favorable disease.

Keywords: breast cancer; menopausal hormone therapy; recurrence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest and no relevant financial disclosures.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart illustrating screening and selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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