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Effect of postmenopausal hormonal replacement therapy on mammographic density and parenchymal pattern
M B Laya1, J C Gallagher, J S Schreiman
1Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
Purpose:
To measure changes and predictors of change in mammograms obtained in postmenopausal women undergoing continuous combined hormonal replacement therapy (HRT).
Materials And Methods:
Mammograms of 41 postmenopausal women obtained before and 1 year after the initiation of HRT were evaluated blindly according to the quantitative density percentage method and the Wolfe classification system.
Results:
Mammographic densities increased compared with baseline values in 73% of subjects (mean increase, 6.7%; 95% confidence interval, 2.5%, 11.0%; P = .003). A shift in Wolfe classification from lower to greater parenchymal density was noted in 24% of subjects (P = .016). Multivariate analysis results indicated that the lower the tissue density percentage before treatment, the greater the increase in density percentage after treatment.
Conclusion:
An increase in mammographic density was demonstrated in most subjects undergoing continuous combined HRT and was most pronounced in subjects with a lower baseline density percentage.