Vaginal Estrogen Therapy for the Genitourinary Symptoms of Menopause: Caution or Reassurance?
Menée au Danemark à partir de données portant sur 8 461 patientes ménopausées et ayant survécu à un cancer du sein ER+ de stade précoce diagnostiqué entre 1997 et 2004 (durée médiane de suivi : 9,8 ans), cette étude analyse le risque de récidive et la mortalité associés à l'utilisation d'une hormonothérapie (oestrogénothérapie vaginale ou traitement hormonal substitutif)
Vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) and genitourinary symptoms (vaginal dryness, dysuria, urinary tract infections, and dyspareunia) frequently plague breast cancer survivors during adjuvant endocrine therapy (1). These symptoms worsen quality of life and can contribute to early treatment discontinuation, such that supplemental estrogens are sometimes considered to mitigate these endocrine therapy toxicities. However, the safety of systemic and vaginal estrogen use among breast cancer survivors, particularly those with estrogen receptor–positive disease, has been uncertain (2,3). In this issue of the Journal, Cold and colleagues (4) present the results of their study Systemic or Vaginal Hormone Therapy After Early Breast Cancer: A Danish Observational Cohort Study to better elucidate the safety of exogenous hormone therapy in survivors of breast cancer.