Hormone replacement therapy after epithelial ovarian cancer treatment

Purpose: Our report deals with the presumed influence of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the recurrence of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Materials and methods: Our study group consisted of 31 patients who had been treated for invasive epithelial carcinoma of the ovaries. In all the patients the primary treatment was surgery. The mean duration of follow-up was 55 months. All the patients received HRT with non-conjugated estrogens. The data were analyzed using analytical descriptive epidemiological methods.

Results: The mean duration of HRT was 25 months, starting on average 18 months after completed therapy for ovarian cancer. Progression of the disease was established in 3 patients with advanced disease, 2 patients with moderately- and poorly-differentiated serous adenocarcinoma respectively, and in one patient with well-differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinoma. The progression of ovarian cancer occurred 1, 2 and 10 months after the beginning of HRT. Two patients died due to progressive disease, while one patient is still alive with evidence of the disease. Eleven months after the beginning of HRT, one patient without evidence of ovarian cancer progression presented with a new primary cancer--carcinoma of the breast.

Conclusions: According to the results of our review study, HRT does not seem to have a noteworthy effect on the progression of epithelial carcinoma of the ovary. However, only further--carefully designed--prospective studies could provide more conclusive results.

Ovarian carcinoma; Hormone replacement therapy; Recurrence

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