Results qualified; Estrogen not tied to endometrial ca recurrence: trial stopped early due to low enrollment, but still the largest study of its kind.(News)

SAN DIEGO -- Estrogen therapy was not associated with an increased risk of disease recurrence in women who'd undergone surgery for endometrial cancer, according to the lead investigator of the largest study ever to examine the effects of hormone therapy in this population.

The study began in 1997 but was stopped early last year owing to a drop in enrollment. Because of limitations in the number of women studied, the results did not achieve statistical significance.

"I think you have to take the data for what it's worth," said Dr. Richard Barakat, the study's principal author, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.

"This is still the largest trial ever of estrogen in women with endometrial cancer, and there will probably never be a larger one. Most gynecologists in the United States treat women who have endometrial cancer with estrogen on the basis of three retrospective studies of about 60-70 patients each, and our study had over 600 patients in each arm," Dr. Barakat, chief of gynecologic oncology at the Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center. New York, told this newspaper.

"Based on the results of this study, I feel comfortable prescribing shortterm, estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy for interested patients who are experiencing symptoms of menopause and perimenopause following surgery for endometrial cancer," he said.

Between June 1997 and January 2003, 1,240 patients were randomized to receive hormone therapy or placebo after undergoing surgery ...