A Warning Sign of Breast Cancer

What does breast tenderness have to do with breast cancer? That's a question researchers are asking themselves after a study found that women who experienced breast tenderness after starting HRT had a 48 percent higher risk of invasive breast cancer then women who didn't experience hormone therapy-related tenderness.

The study, published in the October 12th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, was based on data from 16,000 participants of the Women's Health Initiative's estrogen-plus-progestin clinical trial. That was the trial that came to a screeching halt in 2002, when researchers found that women on the combination therapy had an elevated risk for invasive breast cancer. Seven years later, the data is still producing interesting-if not totally illuminating-clues into the breast cancer connection to HRT.

The study, conducted by researchers from UCLA, also found that participants on the combination therapy had a threefold greater risk of developing breast tenderness within a year then did the women who were assigned placebos. "Is it because the hormone therapy is causing breast-tissue cells to multiply more rapidly, which causes breast tenderness and at the same time indicates increased cancer risk?" asks Dr. Carolyn J. Crandall, the lead author of the study and a clinical professor of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The answer isn't clear. But this much is: If you are on hormone therapy (or were in the past) you should be vigilant about getting regular mammograms. And if you experience breast tenderness after starting HRT, talk to your doctor.