[Impact of HRT on the arterial carotid vascular tree]

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and arterial impact, this is a controversial subject since it is a large field that needs weeding, a theme in which new questions are raised by the cross-results of various studies conducted, and in which doubt is perhaps one of, or even the only, certitude that all the various specialists agree on. In this controversial climate, we feel that three important points should be underlined: the American studies, however reliable they may be, have been conducted with conjugated estrogens and the generalisation to the results of other types of hormones such as those prescribed in Europe is perhaps a little hasty; other factors of risk should be taken into consideration in the eventual potentialisation of the risk induced by such treatment; the venous and arterial vascular risks are not based on the same physiopathological mechanisms. Hence the increased risk in one or the other network system should perhaps not be amalgamated either.