[Breast cancer and hormone therapy]

Recent changes in hormonal therapy for breast cancer were reviewed and discussed. In hormonal therapy for metastatic or recurrent cases, major forms of ablative therapy other than oophorectomy have been less popular because of the introduction of the hormone receptor assay, tamoxifen therapy, high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy, etc. Together with this, combined modality therapy including chemo-endocrine therapy or multi-hormone therapy has been investigated. Hormonal therapy as a post-surgical adjuvant therapy consists of oophorectomy (surgical or irradiation) and long-term administration of tamoxifen. Although these treatments are still associated with controversial results in several reports, further study and evaluation should be continued.