Hormone Replacement Therapy News and Research

RSS

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) sometimes called estrogent replacement therapy or ERT, refers to a woman taking supplements of hormones such as estrogen alone or estrogen with another hormone called progesterone (progestin in its synthetic form). HRT replaces hormones that a woman’s body should be making or used to make.

Can Pfizer rescue hormonal replacement therapy?

In a market still plagued with safety concerns, Pfizer has an opportunity to restore market growth for hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) with its new combination product, Aprela. To do this it must rebuild public and general practitioner confidence in the therapy area, says independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

16 Nov 2010

New national campaign to drive awareness on DVT and PE prevention in women

As many as 600,000 people are affected by deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) every year, and more than half of those are never diagnosed. Some people experience swelling and varying levels of discomfort in the affected area, and some don't feel anything at all. But the symptoms of DVT can be similar to other conditions, like a pulled muscle, and because some people with DVT do not have any symptoms, there is often a delay in diagnosis. That's when DVT can be fatal.

28 Oct 2010

Endocrine disrupting chemicals may affect human reproductive system: Research

New research has provided the first evidence that 'gender bending' chemicals which find their way from human products into rivers and oceans can have a significant impact on the ability of fish to breed in UK Rivers.

27 Oct 2010

Hormone therapy increases breast cancer mortality risk, study finds

Hormone treatment after menopause, already known to increase the risk of breast cancer, also makes it more likely that the cancer will be advanced and deadly, a study finds.

21 Oct 2010

Menopausal estrogen replacement therapy speeds growth of ovarian cancer

Estrogen therapy used by menopausal women causes a type of ovarian cancer to grow five times faster, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

21 Oct 2010

Link between low testosterone and heart disease deaths: Study

In a new study it was seen that men diagnosed with coronary heart disease with low testosterone were almost twice as likely to die over a seven year period. The team led by Prof Kevin Channer a cardiologist of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield looked at 930 men for the study. This study is in contrast to the popular belief that testosterone increases heart disease risk. The study was published in the journal Online First Heart.

21 Oct 2010

IMS launches new Recommendations to manage postmenopausal vaginal atrophy

To mark World Menopause Day on 18th October 2010, the International Menopause Society (IMS) is launching new Recommendations for the management of postmenopausal vaginal atrophy, a distressing condition that will affect up to half of women after menopause.

7 Oct 2010

Fred Hutchinson Center offers research-based tip sheets on breast cancer

Throughout October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, experts from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its clinical care partner, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, are offering a series of weekly research-based tip sheets regarding a variety of topics related to breast cancer, including breast cancer prevention, screening and early detection, treatment, and survivorship.

4 Oct 2010

HRT therapy can increase breast cancer risk

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, affecting up to one in eight women during their lives in Europe, the UK and USA. Large population studies such as the Women's Health Initiative and the Million Women Study have shown that synthetic sex hormones called progestins used in hormone replacement therapy, HRT, and in contraceptives can increase the risk of breast cancers.

30 Sep 2010

Study finds PEM scanners equivalent to breast MRI in detecting cancerous lesions

In a prospective study published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, researchers at Boca Raton Regional Hospital (Boca Raton, FL) showed that Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) and breast MRI had comparably high ability to detect cancerous lesions.

29 Sep 2010

Breast cancer incidence drops, linked to decline in HRT use

A new Canadian study shows that a significant drop in breast cancer incidence among post-menopausal women from 2002 to 2004 coincided with a sharp drop in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use during the same period. This is the first study to show the link between HRT use and breast cancer among Canadian women.

24 Sep 2010

Federal appeals court declines to reconsider 'pay-for-delay' on generic drugs

A federal appeals court on Tuesday said it will not revisit its decision to uphold settlements that allow pharmaceutical companies to pay competitors to keep generic versions of their drugs off the market, The Wall Street Journal reports. "In April, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals [in New York] affirmed the legality of a settlement in which Bayer AG, in essence, paid Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., a potential generic competitor, to drop its patent challenge to Cipro, a Bayer antibiotic."

9 Sep 2010

NIH awards second $8 million grant for research into health effects of botanical estrogens

An ongoing research initiative into the health effects of botanical estrogens will get an $8 million boost from the National Institutes of Health.

9 Sep 2010

Study finds acupuncture can control side effects of cancer treatment

Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can help control a number of symptoms and side effects such as pain, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, and vomiting associated with a variety of cancers and their treatments.

3 Sep 2010

Study finds BMI, thrombogenic factor increases cardiovascular risk

Although having a high body mass index (BMI) is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, researchers are only beginning to understand how BMI affects the physiological processes involved in the development of the disease. Now, a study of a subset of women in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), suggests that as BMI increases, so do platelet reactivity and thrombogenic microvesicles and activated protein C in the blood-all of which contribute to the formation of atherothrombosis and associated cardiovascular events.

30 Aug 2010

Low testosterone levels to blame for low libido, fatigue and weight gain

While most frequently associated with women's health, age-related hormone changes, often dubbed menopause, can occur in men as well, causing symptoms of fatigue, mood swings, decreased desire for sex, hair loss, lack of concentration and weight gain. Experts estimate that more than 5 million men are affected, yet worry the number may be considerably higher since symptoms are frequently ignored.

21 Aug 2010

Study finds hormone replacement therapy increases breast cancer risk

A new analysis of the California Teachers Study, which analyzed hormone replacement therapy use among 2,857 women for almost 10 years, underscores the need for personalized risk-benefit discussions before women begin hormone therapy."This is evidence that the story is complicated," said Tanmai Saxena, an M.D./Ph.D. student at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. "The benefits of hormone therapy for relief of postmenopausal symptoms among women are clear, but the risks are more complicated than we had previously thought."

11 Aug 2010

Progestins have tumor-stage specific effects that determine promotion, suppression: Study

Progestins are used in hormone replacement therapies to counteract the negative effects of estrogen on the uterus and reduce the risk of uterine cancer. However, evidence in recent studies and clinical trials has demonstrated that progestins increase the risk of breast cancer. Now, University of Missouri researchers have compared four types of progestins used in hormone replacement therapies and found significantly different outcomes on the progression of breast cancer in an animal model depending on the type of progestins used.

11 Aug 2010

Scientific findings reveal combination antibiotic therapy effective for ulcerative colitis

The link between Hormone Replacement Therapy and reduced risk of distal large bowel cancer in women; a promising combination antibiotic therapy for ulcerative colitis patients; and the high-rate of alcoholic liver disease mortality, are among the scientific findings featured in the August issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

6 Aug 2010

Oral contraceptives, HRT may protect women against formation, rupture of brain aneurysms: Study

Results from a new study suggest that oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy may yield additional benefit of protecting against the formation and rupture of brain aneurysms in women. The findings from this first-of-its-kind study by a neurointerventional expert from Rush University Medical Center were presented at the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery 7th annual meeting.

31 Jul 2010