Hormone replacement therapy and gynecological cancer

The aim of this paper is to report the risk of development of gynecological cancer in women receiving hormone replacement therapy and to review the current knowledge on the administration of hormone replacement therapy following treatment of gynecological cancer. Estrogens alone may act as promoting factors for endometrial carcinogenesis. However, the addition of progestins reduces the risk of endometrial cancer to that of nonusers. Hormone replacement therapy could be given to selected patients following treatment for endometrial cancer. However, we think that this therapy should be reserved only for patients enrolled in controlled clinical trials. Ovarian cancer does not seem to be sensitive to estrogens, even if current literature does not allow firm conclusions to be drawn. Hormone replacement therapy should be offered to patients previously treated for ovarian cancer and cervical cancer.