Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women previously treat | Figure 1

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Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women previously treated for endometrial cancer

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To determine the effectiveness and safety of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women who have been treated for endometrial cancer.

Cochrane Review; one study (1236 participants) that randomly allocated women to receive either HRT or a placebo.

Key findings:

The single trial found no difference in the likelihood of the cancer regrowth between the two groups. They showed that HRT may or may not increase the risk of recurrence of developing a new cancer. They did not provide any information on survival or symptom relief. However, the study was not completed due to poor recruitment into the clinical trial, so was not large enough to definitively say whether the use of HRT could be recommended after treatment for early endometrial cancer.

Quality of the evidence

It is uncertain whether HRT increases the risk of recurrence after a diagnosis of endometrial cancer, as the certainty of the current evidence was very low. This trial had areas of potential bias that reduced our certainty in the results.

What were the conclusions?

Limited, very-low certainty, evidence suggests that HRT may have little or no effect on the risk of endometrial cancer returning for women who have been treated surgically for an early-stage endometrial cancer. There were no data to say whether HRT had an effect on overall survival after hysterectomy for endometrial cancer.

Read the full Cochrane Review here

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