LA BioMed researcher says 'unexpected' increase in cancer ...( TORRANCE An increased cancer risk i...),Health

TORRANCE An increased cancer risk in post-menopausal women after they stopped taking combined hormone therapy was an unexpected finding in a study that will be reported in the March 5 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), said Rowan T. Chlebowski, M.D., Ph.D., a Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) lead investigator who contributed to the study.

This latest study reinforces the original finding that combined hormone therapy of estrogen plus progestin should not be taken for the purpose of reducing disease in post-menopausal women, Chlebowski said. These findings also reinforce the need for monitoring for cancer in women who have taken the combination of estrogen plus progestin.

Dr. Chlebowski is a medical oncologist who has led several prior reports focusing on hormone effects on malignancies, including breast and colorectal cancer. He was a member of the team of researchers, led by Gerardo Heiss, M.D., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., who authored the March 5 JAMA report on a follow-up study of post-menopausal women enrolled in the Womens Health Initiative. Dr. Chlebowski is available for comment for reporters seeking further insight into the studys findings.

The Womens Health Initiative (WHI) trial began in 1993 to measure the effect of estrogen plus progestin on reducing disease in post-menopausal women. It included 16,608 postmenopausal women and assessed whether conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) prevents heart disease and hip fractures and increases the risk of breast cancer.

The trial was stopped in 2002 when data indicated an increased risk of breast cancer and a failure to demonstrate an overall health benefit of the therapy. Further analysis showed that women taking the two hormones had higher risks of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke a
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