HRT prescribing guidelines: dream or reality?
An international round-table meeting was held in the UK in June 1995, with the aim of developing simple, practical guidelines for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Great emphasis was placed on initial and on-going counselling as a means of promoting compliance. The choice of preparation will depend on whether the patient has an intact uterus, and, if so, whether she is willing to accept regular bleeding. Hysterectomized women should receive continuous estrogen alone, while, for non-hysterectomized women, the first choice of treatment is continuous estrogen with sequential progesterone for at least 10 days in each month. Continuous combined treatment may be given as an alternative. Symptomatic side effects are most likely to occur at the beginning of treatment and can usually be easily managed by a change in the preparations. Despite misleading information in package inserts, there are few absolute contra-indications to HRT.
Lauritzen
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Universitäts-Frauenklinik, Ulm, Germany.
D000075202:Contraindications; D003663:Decision Trees; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors