Breast Cancer Hormone Treatment: An Introduction
Breast cancer hormone treatment (also called hormonal therapy) is used to prevent the growth, spread, or recurrence of breast cancer (known as adjuvant therapy). If lab tests show that your tumor depended on your natural hormones to grow, it will be described as estrogen-positive or progesterone-positive in the lab report. This means that any remaining cancer cells may continue to grow when these hormones are present in your body. Hormonal therapy can block your body's natural hormones from reaching any remaining cancer cells.
Research has proven that breast cancer hormone treatment can extend the lifespan of a breast cancer patient who has cancer cells that depend on hormones to grow.
Types of Breast Cancer Hormone Treatment
Breast cancer hormone treatment uses either drugs or surgery to treat the disease.
Drugs
Your doctor may suggest a drug that can block the natural hormone. One drug is
tamoxifen, which blocks estrogen. Another type of drug prevents the body from making the female hormone estradiol (estradiol is a form of estrogen). This type of drug is an aromatase inhibitor. If you have not gone through
menopause, your doctor may give you a drug that stops the ovaries from making estrogen.
Surgery
If you have not yet gone through menopause, you may have surgery to remove your ovaries. The ovaries are the main source of the body's estrogen. A woman who has gone through menopause does not need surgery. (The ovaries produce less estrogen after menopause.)
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