Hormone therapy for breast cancer

Overview:

Women have two types of hormones in their body. They are called estrogen and progesterone. These hormones trigger breast cancer in some women as they help the cells multiply and spread.

Hormone therapy for breast cancer is a kind of treatment that includes the blocking of hormones to attach themselves to the receptors that are present in the cancer cells. The treatment also involves decreasing the production of hormones at times. The therapy is recommended for cancers that have been found to have receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone in the body.

The treatment is generally used after the surgery to decrease the risk of the return of cancer. The therapy may also be used to reduce the cancer before breast cancer surgery. By reducing the cancer it becomes easier to remove the less amount of tissue breast tissue affected by the disease. The therapy helps control cancer in case of metastasis.

Hormone therapy differs from hormone replacement therapy. The latter is used to add hormones in the body to manage the effects of menopause.

How Does Hormone Therapy For Breast Cancer Help?

Hormone therapy helps in the following cases:

• Decreases the size of cancer before the surgery takes place.
• Stops the cancer from a relapse.
• Slows down the cancer growth.
• Reduces the chance of cancer developing in other tissues of the breast.
• Decreases the risk of cancer in case of a family history.

Who Needs Hormone Therapy For Breast Cancer:

• When a person is diagnosed with breast cancer, the cells from the tumor are checked if they have the receptors for the hormones, estrogen and progesterone. Even if 1% of the cells have the receptors, hormone therapy is suggested as a part of the treatment module.
• For women who have already undergone surgery for breast cancer, the doctor prescribes hormone therapy to ensure that the cancer doesn’t return.

What Are The Different Types Of Hormone Therapies For Breast Cancer:

There are two kinds of hormone therapy for breast cancer.

• One which stops the growth and spread of cancer by blocking estrogen and progesterone.
• Medication or surgery that prevents the ovaries from producing the hormones.

Which Are The Drugs Used In Hormone Therapy: 

• Anastrozole
• Elacestrant
• Exemestane
• Fulvestrant
• Goserelin
• Letrozole 
• Leuprolide acetate 
• Megestrol 
• Tamoxifen
• Toremifene 

The Use Of Tamoxifen In Breast Cancer:

Tamoxifen as a hormone therapy has helped in the treatment of cancer for over three decades. It involves keeping estrogen away from attaching to the cancer cells. When the hormones cannot reach the cancer cells their growth rate is reduced and they may perish. The drug helps slow down the spread of cancer, prevents the cancer from returning if the treatment is carried out in the early stages, and reduces the risk of the cancer developing at a later stage. 

Tamoxifen is used for the treatment of ductal carcinoma(the earliest form of cancer) in situ together with surgery and treating breast cancer in men and women.

It is important to note that pregnant women or women who are planning to become pregnant should not use tamoxifen. People with blood clots or who have suffered from stroke should also not use the drug.

Women who take tamoxifen experience the following side effects:

• Itching or dryness in the vagina.
• Irregularities in the periods.
• Headache.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Rashes on the skin.
• Tiredness.
• Weight gain and retention of water.

For men, the side effects include:

• Headache.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Rash on the skin.
• Erectile dysfunction.

The Risks Of Tamoxifen:

• Increase in fertility for a short time but the baby can be affected.
• Women possess a higher risk of blood clots in the lungs and veins.
• The person may be at risk of stroke.
• The women have a chance of developing uterine cancer and cataracts.
• The drug interferes with the working of other medicines in the body.

The Usage Of Aromatase Inhibitors For Breast Cancer:

This type of hormone therapy prevents the body from breaking down testosterone into estrogen. Aromatase inhibitors stop the cancer from worsening for a longer time as compared to tamoxifen in women whose cancer has advanced and depends on estrogen to grow.

For women who have undergone menopause, this medicine helps fight cancer after it has sped to other parts of the body.

The aromatase inhibitors include:

• Anastrozole.
• Exemestane.
• Letrozole.

The side effects of aromatase inhibitors are:

• Diarrhea or constipation.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Hot flashes.
• Headache and pain in the bones.
• Tiredness and fatigue.
• Rash on the skin.
• Water retention, swelling, and weight gain.
• Bone loss.
• Flu-like symptoms.

Other Hormone Therapies:

Other hormone therapy treatments include stopping ovarian functionality in premenopausal women. The treatment prevents the ovaries from producing the hormones.

The treatment options include:

• Medications.
• Surgery to remove ovaries.
• Radiation therapy targeting the ovaries.

Sometimes hormone therapy is merged with targeted therapy which includes medicines that attack certain chemicals in the cancer cells. The combined therapy increases the effectiveness of the hormone therapy.

What Happens During and After HormoneTherapy:

The person has to consult the oncologist for regular follow-up visits while the hormone therapy is going on. The doctor inquires about any side effects faced by the person and takes measures to manage them.

The person is required to undergo certain tests to check their health condition which involves monitoring if the cancer will reoccur or progress during the therapy. The results of the tests give valuable insights to the doctor as to how the person is responding to the therapy to adjust the treatment module.

Conclusion:

Hormone therapy helps in cancer treatment. It either slows down the progression of the disease, stops the cancer from spreading, prevents the cancer from relapsing, or reduces the risk of developing cancer in case of a family history. The therapy includes medications that are used as per the medical condition of the person and what will help them the most.

Popular Searches :

Hospitals: Cancer Hospital in Delhi | Best Heart Hospital in Delhi |  Hospital in Amritsar | Hospital in Ludhiana | Hospitals in Mohali | Hospital in Faridabad | Hospitals in Gurgaon | Best Hospital in Jaipur | Hospitals in Greater Noida | Hospitals in Noida | Best Kidney Hospital in Kolkata | Best Hospital in Kolkata | Hospitals in Rajajinagar Bangalore | Hospitals in Richmond Road Bangalore | Hospitals in Nagarbhavi Bangalore | Hospital in Kalyan West | Hospitals in Mulund | Best Hospital in India | | Cardiology Hospital in India | Best Cancer Hospital in India | Best Cardiology Hospital in India | Best Oncology Hospital In India | Best Cancer Hospital in Delhi | Best Liver Transplant Hospital in India

Doctors: Dr. Rana Patir | Dr. Rajesh Benny | Dr. Rahul Bhargava | Dr. Jayant Arora | Dr. Anoop Misra | Dr. Manu Tiwari | Dr. Praveer Agarwal | Dr. Arup Ratan Dutta | Dr. Meenakshi Ahuja | Dr. Anoop Jhurani | Dr. Shivaji Basu | Dr. Subhash Jangid | Dr. Atul Mathur | Dr. Gurinder Bedi | Dr. Monika Wadhawan | Dr. Debasis Datta | Dr. Shrinivas Narayan | Dr. Praveen Gupta | Dr. Nitin Jha | Dr. Raghu Nagaraj | Dr. Ashok Seth | Dr. Sandeep Vaishya | Dr. Atul Mishra | Dr. Z S Meharwal | Dr. Ajay Bhalla | Dr. Atul Kumar Mittal | Dr. Arvind Kumar Khurana | Dr. Narayan Hulse | Dr. Samir Parikh | Dr. Amit Javed | Dr. Narayan Banerjee | Dr. Bimlesh Dhar Pandey | Dr. Arghya Chattopadhyay | Dr. G.R. Vijay Kumar | Dr Ashok Gupta | Dr. Gourdas Choudhuri | Dr. Sushrut Singh | Dr. N.C. Krishnamani | Dr. Atampreet Singh | Dr. Vivek Jawali | Dr. Sanjeev Gulati | Dr. Amite Pankaj Aggarwal | Dr. Ajay Kaul | Dr. Sunita Varma | Dr. Manoj Kumar Goel | Dr. R Muralidharan | Dr. Sushmita Roychowdhury | Dr. T.S. MAHANT | Dr. UDIPTA RAY | Dr. Aparna Jaswal | Dr. Ravul Jindal | Dr. Savyasachi Saxena | Dr. Ajay Kumar Kriplani | Dr. Nitesh Rohatgi | Dr. Anupam Jindal 

Specialties: Heart Lung Transplant | Orthopedic | Cardiology Interventional | Obstetrics & Gynaecology | Onco Radiation | Neurosurgery |  Interventional Cardiology | Gastroenterologist in Jaipur | Neuro Physician | Gynecologist in Kolkata | Best Neurologist in India | Liver Transfer | Best Cardiologist in Delhi