MAMMOGRAPHIC CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH POSTMENOPAUSAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

Abstract

Postmenopausal hormone replacement th e rap y i s a specific treatment for postmenopausal sy mptoms in the short term and preventive therapy for osteo porosis and coronary artery disease in the long term (McKinney and Thompson, 1998). In the last decade th e focus of postme n opausal hormone therapy h as chan ged from sh o rt­ term treatme nt to the preventive h ea l th ca re be n efit s associated with long-term treatment. (Speroff et al., 1999). Mammographic parenchymal patterns are of particular

interest because the denser patterns reduces screemn g sensitivity as well as increasing breast cancer ri sk , and because they have been shown to be affected by exoge n o u s estrogen (Seradour et al., 1999). Unfortun ate l y there is a lack of knowledge about mammo graphic brea st parench y mal chan ges associ ated wit h HRT (Beral eta /., 1997). The histologic correlation to the mammographic

den s ity is not fully clear and may in vol v e edem a, vasodilatation, fibrosi s, and epith eli al pro l ife ration . It seem s reasonable that the mcrease in m a mmographic density during treatment 1s related to dose and type of