Hormone therapy for ovarian cancer
Hormones are substances that control some of the body's functions, including how cells act and grow. Hormone therapy adds, blocks or removes hormones to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells that need hormones to grow. Hormone levels can be changed or blocked by drugs, surgery or radiation therapy.
Hormone therapy is sometimes used to treat ovarian cancer. It may also be used to treat fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer, which are very similar to ovarian cancer. These cancers start in the same type of tissue as most ovarian cancers and are staged and treated the same way. If you have hormone therapy, your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan your treatment.
Hormone therapy may be the only treatment you have or it may be used along with other cancer treatments. You may have hormone therapy to:
- treat advanced or recurrent cancer
- control cancer cells left behind after surgery and reduce the risk that the cancer will come back, if chemotherapy cannot be used (called adjuvant therapy)
Types of hormone therapy
Different types of hormone therapy are used to treat ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer.
Anti-estrogens
Estrogen is a female sex hormone that is made by the ovaries. It helps some types of ovarian cancer grow. Anti-estrogen drugs block estrogen from getting to the cancer cell.
Tamoxifen is an anti-estrogen that is sometimes used to treat stromal cell ovarian cancer and advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. It is taken as a pill once a day.
Aromatase inhibitors
Aromatase inhibitors are drugs that block an enzyme called aromatase. Aromatase turns the hormone androgen into estrogen. Aromatase inhibitors lower estrogen levels after menopause, when the ovaries no longer make estrogen.But they won’t stop the ovaries from making estrogen before menopause.
Aromatase inhibitors used to treat ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer include:
- letrozole (Femara)
- anastrozole (Arimidex)
- exemestane (Aromasin)
These drugs are taken as a pill once a day.
Side effects
Side effects of hormone therapy will depend mainly on the type of hormone therapy, the dose of a drug or combination of drugs, and your overall health. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think are from hormone therapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.
These are common side effects of hormone therapy:
- nausea and vomiting
- weight gain
- treatment-induced menopause
- joint and muscle pain
- hot flashes
- weakened and thinning bones (osteoporosis)
Find out more about hormone therapy
Find out more about hormone therapy and the side effects of hormone therapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about hormone therapy.
Details on specific drugs change regularly. Find out more about sources of drug information and where to get details on specific drugs.
Your trusted source for accurate cancer information
With just $5 from readers like you, we can continue to provide the highest quality cancer information for over 100 types of cancer.
We’re here to ensure easy access to accurate cancer information for you and the millions of people who visit this website every year. But we can’t do it alone.
If everyone reading this gave just $5, we could achieve our goal this month to fund reliable cancer information, compassionate support services and the most promising research. Please give today because every contribution counts. Thank you.