hormone therapy more harmful than chemotherapy

 Friday November 1, 2019

Following breast cancer, hormone therapy would degrade patients' quality of life more than chemotherapy.

 

Undesirable effects

Postmenopausal women with breast cancer would suffer more serious side effects with hormone therapy compared to chemotherapy. Oncologists from the first cancer center, Gustave Roussy, studied 4,262 women with breast cancer.

The researchers looked at the quality of life of these women at the time of diagnosis, and then one to two years after treatment. To fight cancer, these women underwent surgery and for some chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy. Then, for a minimum of five years, 75% to 80% of these people have undergone hormone therapy. This treatment involves acting on certain hormones that stimulate cancer cells. Hormone therapy is either used alone or in addition to other treatments.

 

Significant sequelae due to hormone therapy

Two years after the diagnosis, scientists have noted greater sequelae in patients who have taken hormone therapy. Their quality of life has been reduced, especially for postmenopausal women. On the contrary, the researchers noted a greater impact of chemotherapy on quality of life in premenopausal patients, mainly on the deterioration of cognitive functions.

Study author Dr Vaz-Luis said: " It is essential in the future that we can predict which women will develop severe symptoms with antihormonal treatments so that we can better support them "As the reportInserm. Hormone therapy helps prevent relapses of hormone-dependent cancers, which represent 75% of breast cancers. However, it is essential to manage the symptoms of patients who experience a deterioration in quality of life, which results in depression or musculoskeletal pain.

 Stéphanie Haerts

Read also: Hormone therapy at menopause: dangerous or not?