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American Morning
'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired February 04, 2004 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: With more and more evidence that the risks of hormone replacement outweigh the benefits, scientists in Sweden have abruptly ended a breast cancer study because of unacceptably high chances for reoccurrence.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with details -- good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, you know, this is sort of old news sort of packaged in a new way. We've heard a lot of bad things about hormone replacement therapy over the last couple of years. The question now, looking at a specific population of patients, patients who have a history of breast cancer, who are survivors of breast cancer, how are they going to do on hormone replacement therapy?
That was the subject of this particular study.
The answer is not so good still. Looking at the survivors of breast cancer and their overall numbers, take a look at the study here. This originally was supposed to be a five year study. It actually was stopped after two years because of these numbers here. The women who had a history of breast cancer and took hormone replacement therapy had 26 new cases of breast cancer. Compare that now to the women who did not take hormone replacement therapy, seven cases. That's over a 300 percent increase in the likelihood of developing a recurrence.
So the study was stopped.
O'BRIEN: The study was stopped. But what are -- I mean the big question, of course, for women is so what do you do? Because obviously there are these huge upsides to women who are taking hormone replacement therapy. What are their options?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you know, the symptoms of menopause can be pretty significant and that's why there have been so many studies on this particular subject. Now, if you think about, first of all, I think there's going to be a lot of strategies sort of developed now that hormone replacement therapy essentially, maybe that was the final nail in the coffin for this thy.
There are other things out there potentially that are being studied. Take a look at the list of some of them. First of all, low dose progestin instead of the combination hormone replacement therapy may be an option. There are also all sorts of herbal remedies that have been employed, as well, phytoestrogens, black cohosh, red clover, as well. Clonodine is a medication typically thought of for blood pressure, but that might also help; Vitamin E, as well.
There's also some interest now in anti-depressants as possibly being used to treat these, as well. Take a look at the list there. These are all anti-depressants. They could possibly be used to treat these symptoms of menopause, as well.
O'BRIEN: What do investigators do now? I mean you say this is the final nail in the coffin. Do you think there will be no more tests as far as this goes, that doctors will no longer recommend? Because even after some of those studies, the doctors were still telling their patients, well, if you want to, in many cases, take HRT?
GUPTA: What's so interesting about this, I think as a doctor, any time you advise a patient, you basically have to advise them of the risks and the benefits of this. For some women, the menopause symptoms of hot flashes, sleeplessness, all that sort of stuff, are going to be so significant that they're going to say you know what, I know the risks, I understand the increased likelihood of breast cancer, of stroke, of heart attacks, I still want to take the hormone replacement therapy. It's the only thing that lets me get through those symptoms.
You can see the risks there. That's what the increased incidence of all these things with hormone replacement therapy. But it's like anything else, Soledad, I mean there's a lot of things that people do that are probably risky. They know that they're risky, but they're going to still do it because it makes them feel better, gets rid of the symptoms. I think this is a significant study, though, in terms of breast cancer.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta.
Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 4, 2004 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: With more and more evidence that the risks of hormone replacement outweigh the benefits, scientists in Sweden have abruptly ended a breast cancer study because of unacceptably high chances for reoccurrence.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with details -- good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, you know, this is sort of old news sort of packaged in a new way. We've heard a lot of bad things about hormone replacement therapy over the last couple of years. The question now, looking at a specific population of patients, patients who have a history of breast cancer, who are survivors of breast cancer, how are they going to do on hormone replacement therapy?
That was the subject of this particular study.
The answer is not so good still. Looking at the survivors of breast cancer and their overall numbers, take a look at the study here. This originally was supposed to be a five year study. It actually was stopped after two years because of these numbers here. The women who had a history of breast cancer and took hormone replacement therapy had 26 new cases of breast cancer. Compare that now to the women who did not take hormone replacement therapy, seven cases. That's over a 300 percent increase in the likelihood of developing a recurrence.
So the study was stopped.
O'BRIEN: The study was stopped. But what are -- I mean the big question, of course, for women is so what do you do? Because obviously there are these huge upsides to women who are taking hormone replacement therapy. What are their options?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you know, the symptoms of menopause can be pretty significant and that's why there have been so many studies on this particular subject. Now, if you think about, first of all, I think there's going to be a lot of strategies sort of developed now that hormone replacement therapy essentially, maybe that was the final nail in the coffin for this thy.
There are other things out there potentially that are being studied. Take a look at the list of some of them. First of all, low dose progestin instead of the combination hormone replacement therapy may be an option. There are also all sorts of herbal remedies that have been employed, as well, phytoestrogens, black cohosh, red clover, as well. Clonodine is a medication typically thought of for blood pressure, but that might also help; Vitamin E, as well.
There's also some interest now in anti-depressants as possibly being used to treat these, as well. Take a look at the list there. These are all anti-depressants. They could possibly be used to treat these symptoms of menopause, as well.
O'BRIEN: What do investigators do now? I mean you say this is the final nail in the coffin. Do you think there will be no more tests as far as this goes, that doctors will no longer recommend? Because even after some of those studies, the doctors were still telling their patients, well, if you want to, in many cases, take HRT?
GUPTA: What's so interesting about this, I think as a doctor, any time you advise a patient, you basically have to advise them of the risks and the benefits of this. For some women, the menopause symptoms of hot flashes, sleeplessness, all that sort of stuff, are going to be so significant that they're going to say you know what, I know the risks, I understand the increased likelihood of breast cancer, of stroke, of heart attacks, I still want to take the hormone replacement therapy. It's the only thing that lets me get through those symptoms.
You can see the risks there. That's what the increased incidence of all these things with hormone replacement therapy. But it's like anything else, Soledad, I mean there's a lot of things that people do that are probably risky. They know that they're risky, but they're going to still do it because it makes them feel better, gets rid of the symptoms. I think this is a significant study, though, in terms of breast cancer.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta.
Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
