An increased cancer risk in post-menopausal women after they stopped taking combined hormone treatment was an unexpected finding in a study that will be published 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 treatment 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 previous 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.


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