MAMMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN WOMEN ON HORMONAL REPLACEMENT THERAPY

Objectives: In the present retrospective study, we aimed to determine the frequency and the types of mammographic changes of breast parenchy ma in women receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT). We also inves tigated whether there was an association between mammographic changes and some clinical and hormonal characteristics of the women on HRT. Me thods: One-hundred and eight women were included into the study. Of th e 108 women, 19 were climacteric, four premature menopause, 50 spontan eous menopause and 35 surgical menopause. Prior to the start of HRT, a n initial mammography was performed and it was repeated at 6- to 18-mo nth intervals according to the women's status. Estrogen alone was star ted for 35 surgical menopause women and a combination of estrogen plus progesterone for the remaining 73 women. Results: Group I consisted o f 96 women with no parenchymal changes or a decrease in parenchymal de nsity on mammography, whereas group II consisted of 12 women with an i ncrease in parenchymal density (11%) during the mean period of 24 mont hs. Endogenous E2 levels were significantly higher in group II than in group I (52.4 +/- 42.3 pg/ml vs. 32.3 +/- 29.3 pg/ml, P < 0.05). Clim acterium or types of menopause did not affect the mammographical densi ty changes. Neither the type nor the duration of HRT had an effect on mammographic density increase. Conclusions: We concluded that the endo genous E2 level might be an important role in screening the women mamm ographically. Long-term follow-up studies were concluded to be needed in order to evaluate the effects of HRT on mammographic changes.