Hormone therapy

As hormone therapy in which is medicine , the use of hormones or anti-hormonal substances as drugs , respectively.

Common examples of treatment with hormones are the administration of

Thyroid hormones in the case of an underactive thyroid ( hypothyroidism ) as a substitute for a lack of or insufficient hormone production in the body ( substitution therapy ),
Thyroid hormones in the case of an enlarged thyroid ( goiter ) to suppress further stimulation of the thyroid ( suppression therapy ),
Sex hormones,
- female, in the form of birth control pills as a contraceptive and against menstrual cramps .
- male or female, as hormone replacement therapy for the treatment of transsexuality , menopausal symptoms ( menopause in women and menopause virile ) and to stimulate egg cell production and egg maturation in the event of incapacity to conceive ( e.g. luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone in the drug menotropin ).

In oncology , the term hormone therapy (here also anti- hormone therapy / AHT ) has a special meaning. Certain types of cancer whose cells have been shown to have hormone receptors can often be treated successfully with anti-hormonal measures over many years. Such therapy has hitherto been considered for breast , uterine and prostate cancer . Here are medications administered, the production or action of estrogen or testosterone decrease in the body. However, this can affect the libido .

A hormone receptor test ( hormone receptor analysis ) tests the sensitivity of cancer cells to hormones, in particular the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to estrogen (and progesterone).

Web links

Anti-hormone therapy , cancer information service of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg. April 14, 2010. Last accessed September 4, 2014.

Individual evidence

↑ Lois Jovanovic, Genell J. Subak-Sharpe: Hormones. The medical manual for women. (Original edition: Hormones. The Woman's Answerbook. Atheneum, New York 1987) From the American by Margaret Auer, Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0100-X , p. 142 f. and 383 ( Pergonal ).
↑ Lois Jovanovic, Genell J. Subak-Sharpe: Hormones. The medical manual for women. (Original edition: Hormones. The Woman's Answerbook. Atheneum, New York 1987) From the American by Margaret Auer, Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0100-X , pp. 248-250 and 376.

[1] Lois Jovanovic, Genell J. Subak-Sharpe: Hormones. The medical manual for women. (Original edition: Hormones. The Woman's Answerbook. Atheneum, New York 1987) From the American by Margaret Auer, Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0100-X , p. 142 f. and 383 ( Pergonal ).

[2] Lois Jovanovic, Genell J. Subak-Sharpe: Hormones. The medical manual for women. (Original edition: Hormones. The Woman's Answerbook. Atheneum, New York 1987) From the American by Margaret Auer, Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0100-X , pp. 248-250 and 376.