Some HRT 'protects against cancer'

A type of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reserved for women without wombs protects against breast cancer long after treatment is stopped, a study has found.

Scientists followed the progress of some 7,500 women who took oestrogen-only HRT for seven years and were monitored for a further 4.7 years.

They were 23% less likely to have developed develop breast cancer than other women in the study who were given a "dummy" placebo treatment.

Those in the HRT group who did develop the disease were also 63% less likely to die from their condition.

Oestrogen-only HRT is known to be linked to cancer of the womb and for this reason only given to women who have undergone a hysterectomy.

The more common form of HRT containing both oestrogen and the hormone progesterone has been said to increase breast cancer risk, although the claim is controversial.

The new results, published online in The Lancet Oncology journal, come from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a major US study of post-menopausal women launched in 1993.

They show that women who had oestrogen-only HRT for around seven years and then stopped continued to enjoy long-lasting protection against breast cancer.

But the benefit had to be balanced against an increased risk of blood clots and strokes associated with HRT. Because of this risk the WHI study was halted in 2004, a year earlier than planned.

In addition, women with a naturally higher than normal risk of breast cancer did not appear to be protected.

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Some HRT 'protects against cancer'