[Influence of adjuvant hormonal therapy on the whole female organism: benefit versus potential injury]. / Einfluss einer adjuvanten Hormontherapie aud den Gesamtorganismus der Frau: Nutzen versus potentieller Schaden.

ABSTRACT

Not only do patients suffering from hormone receptor-positive tumors of the mammary gland show an increased survival rate, but patients with endometrial as well as ovarian cancer also benefit from hormone replacement therapy. On the one hand, hormonal treatment as well as any other medical treatment influences the tumor, and on the other hand it influences the whole body, which sometimes leads to unfavorable events (increased rate of endometrial cancers during tamoxifen therapy vs. increase of bone density in postmenopausal women). Therefore, hormonal cancer treatment is often suspect. As unfavorable events are rare, and since the benefit is convincing, doctors have to inform women about all the pros and cons of this treatment option, which leads to well-informed and cooperative patients.