Estrogen Linked to Benign Breast Lumps: Washington Post April 8, 2008

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Estrogen Linked to Benign Breast Lumps The Associated Press

Washington Post Tuesday, April 8, 2008; 11:01 PM WASHINGTON -- Add another risk to hormone therapy

after menopause: Benign breast lumps. One type of hormone therapy _ estrogen

plus progestin _ already is well-known to increase the risk of breast cancer.

But a major study of women able to use estrogen alone didn't find that link. Tuesday, researchers reported a new

wrinkle: Those estrogen-only users doubled their chances of getting

non-cancerous breast lumps. That's a concern not only because of the extra

biopsies and worry those lumps cause, but because a particular type _ called

benign proliferative breast disease _ is suspected of being a first step toward

developing cancer 10 years or so later. About one in five women undergo a breast

biopsy within a decade of starting annual mammograms, and most are of those

abnormalities turn out to be benign. Yet under a microscope, there are

different types, from simple fluid-filled cysts to what's called proliferative

breast disease because it's made of growing cells. The latest work, published in the Journal

of the National Cancer Institute, re-examines data from the landmark Women's

Health Initiative that found a variety of health risks from long-term hormone

therapy. Only women who have undergone hysterectomies

are able to use estrogen-only therapy, and the WHI originally included more

than 10,000 of those women, who were given either estrogen or a dummy drug and

tracked for about seven years. Now, a team led by Dr. Tom Rohan of the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York has reviewed breast biopsies

done on those women _ and identified 232 cases of benign proliferative breast

disease. Women given the estrogen-only therapy had twice the risk of developing

these abnormalities compared with women given a placebo. WHI participants are still being tracked,

allowing scientists to eventually tell if the benign breast problems were a

signal of more trouble to come, Rohan concluded.

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