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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Changes in Mammary Gland Morphology and Breast Cancer Risk in Rats
Published on: October 17, 2010
[Hormones and cancer: risk-benefit]
1Abteilung Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe, Krankenhaus Lainz Wolkersbergenstrasse 1,A-1130 Wien (Osterreich).
Abstract:
The influence which female sexual steroids, especially estrogen, have on the development of cancer has not only been shown epidemiologically, but also by experimental findings. Hormones, in spite of a known marginal increase in the risk of thrombosis and endometrial cancer, play an important role in the preventive cancer medication (oral contraceptives: ovarian and endometrial cancer; chemoprevention: high-risk breast cancer patients). Basically, hormone replacement therapy should be administered to all patients suffering from gynecological malignomas. In the case of patients suffering from breast cancer, the advantages of hormone replacement therapy (e.g., less risk of cardiovascular complications) need to be weighed against the disadvantages.
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