Estrogen therapy in menopause and endometrial cancer

The hormone dependency of endometrial cancer and the increase of its incidence seem to be generally accepted. The Authors expose the results of a four year retrospective epidemiological research aiming at verifying the possible role of menopausal estrogen assumption in the etiopathogenesis of the above mentioned disease. Two groups of post-menopausal patients were examined, who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy: 168 were endometrial cancer free, 50 were affected. The percentages of estrogen users, the exposition time and type of therapy were carefully analyzed in them. No correlation could be found between estrogen consumption, which resulted much lower than in the U.S.A., and endometrial cancer incidence. The relatively short assumption times, the different drug associations, and the hypoestrogenic origin of the most disturbing menopausal symptoms can help to explain this finding which is however, in agreement with what emerges from studies carried out in different countries by several Authors.