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While some form of hormone replacement therapy have been witness to increase breast cancer risk , therapies that use only estrogen may really protect women against the disease , a new sketch say .

Women in the work who tookestrogen - only hormone replacement therapy(HRT ) for six twelvemonth were 23 percent less likely to train breast cancer five age after they had stopped the therapy compared with women who never received HRT . woman who took estrogen - only HRT were also less probable to fail of boob Crab .

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The findings mostly apply to women who have had a hysterectomy , as this is the mathematical group most likely to take estrogen - only hormone replacement therapy . The therapy raises the jeopardy of uterine malignant neoplastic disease , so the therapy is usually not prescribed for other womanhood .

" These latest results should put up reassurance about breast safe , " for fair sex taking estrogen for about five years after a hysterectomy for easing from postmenopausal symptoms , suppose work researcher Garnet Anderson , of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle .

However , the researchers say they do not recommend estrogen - only HRT as a way toreduce breast cancer riskin general . The lowered peril was not found in womanhood with a family chronicle of the disease , and the therapy fare with a risk of stroke and rip clot , the investigator articulate .

a group class of older women exercising

The study will be published online March 7 in the journal Lancet Oncology .

Does hormone replacement therapy cause harm ?

In the nineties , the Women ’s Health Initiative , a work involving more than 100,000 charwoman , was established to determine the risk of infection and benefits of HRT . One branch of the survey look the effect of taking estrogen and progestin together , but it was halted ahead of agenda in 2002 because the endocrine combination was found toincrease the endangerment of breast Crab by 25 percent .

a rendering of an estrogen molecule

A separate discipline branch look at the effect of estrogen - only hormone replacement therapy in 11,000 postmenopausal women who had had hysterectomies . This trial was stop in 2004 because the therapy was get hold to increase the risk of infection of stroke and blood line clots .

In the new study , the research worker follow 7,645 women from the estrogen - only branch for about five years after the test ended . About half had take up estrogen during the run , and half had taken the placebo .

Over the course of the 11 - class study , 151 women who took estrogen - only HRT developedbreast cancercompared with 199 women took a placebo . Six fair sex who took estrogen - only HRT exit from white meat cancer , compared with 16 who took a placebo .

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Estrogen confusedness

" It ’s very , very reassuring , " Dr. John Buster , professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Brown University , who was not take in the sketch , said of the findings . " It really takes the fire out of the contention that estrogens cause titty cancer , " Buster suppose .

Some previous studies have suggested that estrogen - only hormone-replacement therapy increases the risk of breast Crab , but these studies were less strict in designing than the new one .

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In accession , women claim HRT in the former study may have also undergone more frequent mammogram , making it more potential breast cancer would be detected . In the raw study , women who received hormone-replacement therapy were just as probable to get ayearly mammogramas those who did not have HRT , the researcher said .

It ’s still not clean-cut why estrogen - only therapies and therapy that use a combination of estrogen and progestin appear to have the opposite event on tit cancer risk .

The study was fund by the National Heart , Lung and Blood Institute and Wyeth ( now part of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals ) .

A microscope image of Schistosoma haematobium

Pass it on : Women who ’ve had a hysterectomy can take estrogen - only endocrine substitute therapy for about five years without an increase risk in titty Crab , concord to a new sketch .

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