CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 1, 86-91, Copyright
© 1951 by American Cancer Society
Sex Hormones in Breast Cancer
Ira T. Nathanson M.D.1
1 The Medical Laboratories of the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital, Harvard University, and the Tumor Clinic of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass., and Pondville Hospital (Department of Public Health), Walpole, Mass.
The role of hormones in the therapy of breast cancer is becoming better understood. There is no evidence to indicate that sex hormones or castration will permanently control even the most susceptible cancers, and even in these there is considerable variability in response. Indeed, acceleration of the cancer has occurred in some cases. Thus, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that established surgical and radiation techniques should be used as a primary method of treatment for probable curative or palliative control of breast cancer.
However, judicious use of hormonal therapy or castration can be considered as a third method in the palliative treatment of breast cancer. It is of the greatest value as an adjunct to the established methods of treatment, particularly when the latter are not feasible. Caution must be exercised when sex hormones are indicated in the treatment of breast cancer because of possible serious complications. Proper precautions may minimize or avoid these complications in many instances. The opportunities provided by continued and careful observations of the effects of hormones on breast cancer should lead to further insight into the mechanisms involved in the growth and regression of breast cancer. Information from such studies may point the direction for more effective therapy.
