Hormone Therapy Just as Effective as Chemotherapy

Good news women. If you are at risk of breast cancer, a not-so-distant treatment, could spare you the side effects of Chemo and keep you fertile. Up til now, when a woman undergoes chemotherapy, her ovaries are effected and she risks becomming sterile. This is not something a woman wants to hear, especially if this happens early in life.

Scientists recently completed a review of 16 studies comparing a test group to those who underwent chemotherapy and with those who underwent the hormone therapy utilizing luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist.

The results: both were equally effective.

The difference: The hormone treatment mimics menopause (including hot flashes & no periods) when utilized and allows the woman to return to her natural state when taken off the treatment. Chemo destroys the ovaries.

The downside: LHRH treatment, once stopped, allows for the brain to start producing oestrogen again. It is estimated that 60% of women who have breast cancer before menopause have hormone-sensitive tumors. This means that when the oestrogen floods the body, this could, in effect, cause the cancer to return (More time needs to expire before more will be known on this variable). And of course, chemo weakens you as your body is being filled with toxins and destroys your immune system as well as damages different organs.

You can read more here.

Some questions:

-Is it wise to start treatments on something that has not had years of trials? Given the odds?
-If you are a young woman, still in child bearing age, would you opt for the hormone treatment given that it is not fully tested or would you take your chances with chemo?
-Do you think that there should be a standard period that all treatments would have to be monitored and studied before the public would have knowledge of them?
-Do you think that expiremental treatments should be more readily available to the public if they are willing to try them?