When you are diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor will analyze the tumor to investigate the prospect of receptors that use estrogen or progesterone. If present, endocrine therapy uses drugs and medication to regulate the two naturally-occurring chemicals. In prostate cancer, the drugs are used to control testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.
Cochise Oncology can provide professional injectable hormonal therapy to prevent further cancel cell growth to form a significant part of the cancer treatment.
Hormones that occur naturally in the ovaries and testicles are essential to human life, but they can be the fuel behind certain types of cancer. However, hormones can also slow the growth of cancer cells and even kill them, which is where hormonal therapy is used.
Essentially, hormonal therapy focuses on the idea of using medicines to add, block, or remove the naturally-occurring chemicals to help treat the disease. This can happen by stopping the hormones from helping cancer cells grow, or by preventing the production of the hormones in the testicles or ovaries. Hormonal therapy can be used before another cancer treatment (neoadjuvant treatment), to help kill cancer cells, or after another cancer treatment (adjuvant therapy) to boost the hopes of a cure.
The FDA-cleared hormonal therapies are used in conjunction with other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy. While it can be used to treat breast cancer or prostate cancer, it is only used on women whose breast cancers test positive for estrogen or progesterone receptors or men whose prostate cancers test positive for testosterone and dihydrotestosterone receptors.
Treatments are commonly used for advanced cancers, as well as recurrent breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Drugs and medication can additionally lower the risk of more invasive responses.
When the receptor test analysis of a tumor comes back positive, hormonal therapy can be used to block the hormones that have helped the cancer cells grow. By keeping the hormone chemicals away from the cancer cells, growth can be stopped while the cancer cells may also be killed. The treatment may be used in conjunction with other procedures, including surgery to remove the glands within the testicles or ovaries.
Hormonal therapy aims to prevent the growth, spread, and recurrence of the associated cancers and can use a range of FDA-approved medications to do this. The list of drugs includes tamoxifen, anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane, and raloxifene. Hormonal therapy is often administered via a monthly injection, but the term can also incorporate surgeries that remove the ovaries or testicles.
When endocrine therapy is determined to be the best solution, Cochise Oncology’s team of experts will provide the insight and information that you need in relation to the medications that will be used. Regardless of how the medication is administered (orally, injection, etc.), it’s unlikely that you’ll need to make any major preparations. However, it may be necessary to adjust your diet and lifestyle during the course of treatment.
Once again, the exact details will be personalized to the specifics of your cancer type and the medication that is used. The actual process of administering the drugs will take seconds (or maybe a few minutes at most), but the treatment may be required for several months. For example, neoadjuvant treatments may be used for up to six months before starting radiotherapy. The best option is to discuss matters with one of our friendly doctors.
Hormonal therapy can cause several side effects, but the fact that you will only take one drug during the treatment means that the chances of them occurring are limited. Depending on the type of endocrine therapy and medication that is used, though, you could experience fatigue, hot flashes, a loss of sex drive, male breast enlargement, vaginal dryness, lower bone density, impotence, weight gain, anemia, depression, and a loss of muscle mass.
While unlikely to experience all of the symptoms, an awareness of them is vital.
*Individual Results May Vary
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