What is hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is a treatment used in oncology to slow down or stop the growth of cancers that are stimulated by hormones present in the patient’s body to develop and proliferate. It is also called hormonal therapy or endocrine therapy.
Types of hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is divided into two broad groups:
Hormone therapy that blocks the body’s ability to produce more hormones; and
Hormone therapy that interferes with the sites where hormones act in the body.
How hormone therapy is done
- Oral medication: done by taking tablets;
- Injectable medication: the medication is administered via subcutaneous or intramuscular injection (which can be done in the arm, thigh, hip, or just under the skin, in the fatty layer of the arm, leg, or belly);
- Non-drug surgical or surgical castration: the patient undergoes surgery to remove the organ that produces hormones, such as the ovaries (oophorectomy) or testicles (orchiectomy); and
- Radiotherapy ablation (non-drug): application of a dose of radiation to the ovaries so that they lose the function of producing hormones.
Oral treatment can be done at home. The other types require a visit to a specialized clinic or hospital.
Applications of hormone therapy
Hormone therapy in breast cancer and hormone therapy in prostate cancer, which need hormones to develop, can be treated with hormonal therapy. It can be done in combination with other medications that enhance its action.
Its main objectives are:
- Reduce the size of the tumor before surgery or radiotherapy (neoadjuvant treatment);
- Reduce the risk of recurrence, i.e., the cancer returning after the end of the main treatment (adjuvant treatment); and
- Serve as palliative treatment to destroy cancer cells that have regrown (recurrence) or spread to other parts of the body (metastasis).
Side effects of hormone therapy
The adverse effects can manifest in various ways, some of them are:
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Night sweats
- Insomnia
- Reduced libido
- Weight gain
- Osteoporosis
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