The Use Of Vaginal Estrogen By Women With A Current Or Prior History Of Breast Cancer
Data do not show an increased risk of cancer recurrence among women currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer or those with a personal history of breast cancer who use vaginal estrogen to relieve urogenital symptoms 16. A nested casecontrol analysis of a cohort study of women with breast cancer who either did or did not use vaginal estrogen showed no increase of recurrence in vaginal estrogen users 17. In another study, the risk of recurrence in women who used vaginal cream was not increased, irrespective of the total dose prescribed 18.
Concerns remain about recurrence risk with use of vaginal estrogen in women with breast cancer who use aromatase inhibitors. Specifically, the threshold for systemic estrogen levels associated with breast cancer recurrence risk has yet to be determined 19. Some authors note that even a small increase in systemic estradiol levels may have a detrimental effect on recurrence risk and that more data are needed before recommendations can be made regarding the use of vaginal estrogen among this population 1620. Typically, aromatase inhibitors decrease circulating estradiol levels from 20 pg/mL to less than 13 pg/mL 2021. Studies have demonstrated an initial increase of serum estradiol with the use of low-dose vaginal estrogen among women taking an aromatase inhibitor, though these levels were not sustained over time and increased cancer recurrence was not noted 11.
The Truth About Estrogen Dominance And Breast Cancer
Solid medical science and clinical studies have established that an underlying and untreated condition of âestrogen dominanceâ significantly increases your breast cancer risk: women who develop breast cancer have higher estrogen levels than women without breast cancer.
Some studies have also shown that women who had been treated for breast cancer, and who continued to have high estrogen levels, had a return of the disease sooner than breast cancer survivors with lower estrogen levels.;The reason is that one of estrogenâs functions in the body is to foster cell growth, or âcell proliferation.â At a cellular level, unchecked cell growth can be a precursor for cancer.;
The Link To The Drink
Breastcancer.org reports that, compared to women who dont drink at all, women who have three alcoholic drinks per week have a 15 percent higher risk of breast cancer. Experts estimate that the risk of breast cancer goes up another 10 percent for each additional drink women regularly have each day.7
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Signs Of Breast Cancer
Take time to get to know the normal look and feel of your breasts while showering, dressing or looking in the mirror so you can detect any changes that may indicate cancer such as:
- A lump, lumpiness or thickening.
- Changes to the nipple such as a change in shape, crusting, a sore or an ulcer, redness or a nipple that turns in when it used to stick out.
- Changes to the skin of the breast such as dimpling of the skin, unusual redness or other color changes.
- Change in the shape or size of the breast either an increase or decrease.
- Unusual discharge from the nipple without squeezing.
- Swelling or discomfort in the armpit.
- Persistent, unusual pain not related to your normal monthly cycle, which remains after a menstrual period and occurs in one breast only.
Though not necessarily cancer, these signs should be checked by your doctor without delay.
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What Is Unique About The Young Mammary Gland That Makes It So Susceptible To Cancer Induction And Protection
The fact that two crucial reproductive events, menarche and young age at parity, have the greatest effect on lifetime breast cancer risk suggests that the young mammary gland represents a crucial window in tumorigenic susceptibility. Why this is the case is less clear. Based on the epidemiological evidence for this, a few hypotheses have been generated, but again few have been tested experimentally, and this work is largely restricted to rodent models.
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Can A Person Lower Their Breast Cancer Risk
If a person decides to take HRT, they can ask for a lower-dose formula. They can also discuss with a doctor how to take it for the shortest possible time.
BreastCancer.org notes that a person can take certain steps to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer whether they use HRT or not.
They recommend that a person:
- exercise regularly
- quit smoking, if applicable
- limit their intake of alcohol
It is also important to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. This is because having more fat tissue can raise a persons estrogen levels, and as a result, increase the chance of developing breast cancer.
The ACS adds that a person at higher risk for breast cancer may benefit from taking additional steps, such as:
- getting closer monitoring
- seeking genetic testing and counseling
- getting preventative surgery
For those with a high risk of developing breast cancer, an oncologist may prescribe medications such as tamoxifen and raloxifene.
Estrogen Linked To Benign Breast Lumps
Add another risk to hormone therapy after menopause: Benign breast lumps.
One type of hormone therapy estrogen plus progestin already is well-known to increase the risk of breast cancer. But a major study of women able to use estrogen alone didn’t find that link.
Tuesday, researchers reported a new wrinkle: Those estrogen-only users doubled their chances of getting non-cancerous breast lumps. That’s a concern not only because of the extra biopsies and worry those lumps cause, but because a particular type called benign proliferative breast disease is suspected of being a first step toward developing cancer 10 years or so later.
About one in five women undergo a breast biopsy within a decade of starting annual mammograms, and most are of those abnormalities turn out to be benign. Yet under a microscope, there are different types, from simple fluid-filled cysts to what’s called proliferative breast disease because it’s made of growing cells.
The latest work, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, re-examines data from the landmark Women’s Health Initiative that found a variety of health risks from long-term hormone therapy.
Only women who have undergone hysterectomies are able to use estrogen-only therapy, and the WHI originally included more than 10,000 of those women, who were given either estrogen or a dummy drug and tracked for about seven years.
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How Breast Cancer Forms And Multiplies
Cancer cells are triggered when a mutation in normal cells occur. This can happen due to well-known problematic lifestyle factors like living on junk food, chronic sunburn and cigarette smoking, but hormones can also play a big role. Once cancer cells are born they grow and divide to make more cancer cells, which form a tumor that may contain millions of cancer cells.
Cancers need a blood supply to provide them the oxygen, nutrients and hormones like estrogen, which help them grow and multiply. But as they get bigger they are often further away from the blood vessels so they need to set up their own supply. They do this by sending out signals that tell your body to grow new blood vessels like capillaries. This process is called angiogenesis. And it is ongoing, so once it occurs the cancer keeps getting bigger and then may start to spread to organs like your liver . Thats why scientists are working on cancer vaccines and drugs to try to halt the process of angiogenesis.
Breast cancer is often caused by cancer cells growing in the lobules, where milk is produced or the ducts, where the milk travels to the nipple. Breast cancer cells may then spread to surrounding breast tissue, then move to the lymph nodes under the arms and migrate to other parts of the body.
Is There A Link Between Thyroid Disease And Breast Cancer
The Thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland, takes part in a wide range of functions in the body. Healthy thyroid equals healthy you. Problems affecting this gland take their toll on other systems and functions in your body and are also associated with other diseases and health conditions.
For example, people with hypothyroidism may have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular problems, among other common health concerns. But what about breast cancer?
Is the function of our thyroid linked to breast cancer in any way? Youll find answers in this article.
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Controlling Estrogen Level To Combat Breast Cancer
Regardless of exactly how estrogen causes increased breast cancer risk, it is worth keeping low estrogen levels in your body because this is shown to potentially reduce your breast cancer risk and is an excellent natural remedy for hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers that do arise.
- Stop smoking
- Reduce saturated and trans fats
- Reduce usage or eliminate hormone replacent therapy during and after menopauseThe end of a womans menstrual cycles, defined as 12 consecutive months of no menstrual periods.
- Choose to breastfeed, if possible
All of the above factors contribute to reducing estrogen levels in the body. Controlling them helps decrease your risk for breast cancer and gives you a healthier lifestyle in general.
Of course, there are also a number of factors relating to estrogen which cannot be controlled. Women who start their period early or begin the menopause late are believed at higher risk of developing breast cancer, for example. So are those who have children late or dont have any at all. This is possibly because these women are exposed to more estrogen overall in their lifetimes. On the flipside, each time you get pregnant for a prolonged period, you effectively decrease the number of menstrual cycles and hormone fluctuations in your lifespan, reducing the breast cancer risk.
The Power Of Prevention
Living with the fear of breast cancer, fearing it, and not understanding it is a toxic way of living. Going for a mammogram is like waiting for a sickness to happen. Like youre waiting for the worse news of your;life. ;
Im all about taking steps to promote your own wellness and prevent illness. To help prevent breast cancer, its important to recognize the links between elevated hormones and ill health. This is particularly true for estrogen, the female hormone that helps us develop our menstrual cycle and curves. Many women are very surprised to learn that breast cancer can be fed by estrogen. And theres plenty of clear science to show the link.
Here is the good news: Estrogenic cancers like breast cancer can be managed with a sensible diet and clean lifestyle options. This article is about that.
When Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School looked at womens hormones via blood samples taken from the ongoing Nurses Health Study, they found a strong link between hormonal imbalance and breast cancer.
Their study measured levels of eight different important hormones in women after menopause. Those hormones included estrogen, androgenic hormones, DHEA, prolactin and insulin-like growth factor . The results were startling. When more than one hormone level was elevated, the risk of breast cancer doubled. And when several were elevated? It tripled. But the hormone with the biggest impact? Was estrogen. You can to read more about this study.
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Thyroid Disease And Breast Cancer
When thyroid gland doesnt function consequences properly are felt in many ways as people experience an array of symptoms. Besides symptoms, the risk of various health problems increases too.
The relationship between thyroid disease and breast cancer is not studied as extensively as it should. That being said, the current evidence shows that there is a link between the two.
Giani et al. assessed the prevalence of thyroid disease in 102 breast cancer patients in 100 age-matched healthy controls.
Their findings showed that 47 out of 102 breast cancer patients had thyroid disease whereas 14 participants out of 100 healthy controls had some disease affecting butterfly-shaped gland. Additionally, the prevalence of nontoxic goiter was 27.4% among breast cancer patients and 11% in healthy controls.
Hashimotos thyroiditis was observed in 13.7% breast cancer patients while only 2% healthy controls had this autoimmune condition.
Other thyroid-related conditions found in breast cancer patients with Graves disease, subacute thyroiditis, and thyroid carcinoma. Scientists concluded the study is explaining that the overall prevalence of thyroid diseases is increased in patients with breast cancer, of these autoimmune conditions, are particularly common.
For this purpose, it is incredibly important to screen breast cancer patients with thyroid-related problems.
But, that wasnt the only study which sought to find a link between thyroid problems and breast cancer.
Do The Benefits Of Hrt Outweigh The Risk
Hormone replacement therapy is an effective treatment for relieving hot flashes from menopause. But the known link between hormone therapy and increased breast cancer among risks has discouraged many women and their doctors from choosing or recommending this treatment.
The type of hormone therapy , as well as the womanâs individual characteristics, risk factors, and severity of menopause symptoms, should be considered when weighing the risks and benefits of HRT. The decision to use hormone therapy after menopause should be made by a woman and their health care provider after weighing all of the potential risks and benefits .
The known association between HRT and breast cancer has prevented many breast specialists from recommending it for breast cancer survivors. Unfortunately, many women experience menopause symptoms after breast cancer treatment. Some forms of chemotherapy may also cause early menopause in premenopausal women.
In the past, doctors may have offered HRT after breast cancer treatment because there werenât clearcut studies showing any harm. However, early in 2004, a study was stopped early after showing that cancer survivors on HRT were more likely to develop a new or recurrent breast cancer. Doctors now feel it is too risky to treat breast cancer survivors with HRT.
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How Common Is Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world, but have you ever wondered how prevalent it is?
According to BreastCancer.org, one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer sometime in their life. This even more concerning since, the rate of death from breast cancer is the highest for any type of cancer
And besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American women. More than 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no history of this severe disease in their family.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2019 about 268,600 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. This year the number of deaths caused by breast cancer is expected to be about 41,760, figures show.
Bioassay Of Clampede2 On Uterine Weight
Our various strategies to examine the ER-independent effects of E2 critically depended on complete blockade of any residual ER activity resulting from a truncated ER or from low levels of ER. Measurement of uterine weight provided a robust bioassay of E2 to determine whether complete blockade was achieved. We measured uterine weight after at least 2 months of E2 exposure under each experimental condition . In the ERKO castrate animals, E2 stimulated uterine weight to 18% of that observed in ER+/+/Wnt-1 animals, an effect resulting from a biologic effect of the truncated 56KD receptor . Fulvestrant completely blocked the residual ER responsiveness in the ERKO/Wnt-1 animals. Uterine weight fell to 7 ± 1 mg in the animals receiving 240 pg/ml E2 plus fulvestrant, a uterine weight similar to that observed in castrate animals . In aggregate, these data demonstrated that fulvestrant was capable of completely abrogating the effects of residual ER activity in ERKO animals.
Uterine wet weights in ER+/Wnt-1 and ERKO/Wnt-1 animals. Shown are mean weights of the uterus under various conditions. Data from ER-animals were pooled from different experiments . 17-E2/ovx: castrate animals receiving 17-OH-E2 to produce plasma levels of 240 pg/ml . Statistical analysis: ER+ groups: compared to intact , compared to ovx , compared to ovx + E2 ; ERKO groups: compared to intact , compared to ovx , compared to ovx + E2 with all p-values less than 0.001.
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Practical Use Of Attributable Risks And Benefits In Decision Making
Short-term use of ERT/HRT for menopausal symptoms. Use of ERT or HRT for less than 2 yr causes only a negligible increase in risk of breast cancer in a 50-yr-old woman . Consequently, a woman could be encouraged to take short-term ERT or HRT for menopausal symptoms without a great deal of concern regarding risk of breast cancer.
Long-term use of ERT/HRT to prevent heart disease or osteoporosis. The longer a woman takes estrogen, the greater is her risk of developing breast cancer attributable to this hormone. The attributable risk associated with estrogen alone, when taken by the average 50-yr-old woman for 10 yr, is a 1 in 397 increase in the chance of getting a breast cancer. For 60-yr-old women, the respective risk is 1 in 286. If we accept the data of Schairer et al. as valid, the RR of breast cancer increases by 8% per year with use of an estrogen plus a progestin. Using these data, we may calculate that, for the 50-yr-old taking HRT for a 10-yr period, the breast cancer risk attributable to hormonal therapy would be 1 in 50. For the 60-yr-old, the risk increases to 1 in 36.
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