Effect on endometrium of combined oestrogen-progestogen replacement therapy of 1 mg 17beta-estradiol and 0.5 mg norethisterone acetate.
The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of low-dose hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on ultrasound thickness of the endometrium and on endometrial histology in postmenopausal women. Two hundred and fifty-four postmenopausal women were included in the study; 124 completed three years of treatment with continuous HRT containing 1 mg oestradiol and 0.5 mg norethisterone acetate daily, and 130 women did not take HRT during the same time (control group). Ultrasound scan showed that the mean thickness of the endometrium was similar between the groups under investigation at the end of the study. Ninety-one percent of the women in the HRT group and 78% in the control group had an atrophic or unassessable endometrium and no cases of endometrial hyperplasia or malignancy were detected in either group at endometrial biopsy at the end of the study. It seems that low-dose continuous HRT of moderate duration is not associated with either endometrial hyperplasia or malignancy.
Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Greece.
G
G
Iatrakis
C
C
Tsionis
S
S
Antoniadis
G
G
Kourounis
D004717:Endometrium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D004958:Estradiol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009640:Norethindrone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000077563:Norethindrone Acetate; D014463:Ultrasonography
D004958:Estradiol; D000077563:Norethindrone Acetate; D009640:Norethindrone