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Category Archives: Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormone Replacement Therapy – Updated Recommendations, At Last!

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Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Menopause Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;Endocrinology Article Date: 26 May 2013 - 0:00 PDT

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Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT is prescribed for women whose progesterone and estrogen levels drop significantly, usually due to the menopause. Progesterone and estrogen are hormones. HRT raises a woman's levels of vital hormones. HRT may refer to male hormonal treatment, it is also prescribed for people who undergo a sex change.

There are three main types of HRT for women:

Even since the findings from the WHI (Women's Health Initiative) Trial in 2002, HRT has been mired in confusion and controversy. In fact, HRT's risks received so much attention that its benefits have been mostly forgotten.

In the WHI estrogen and progestogen study, a small increase in breast cancer risk was found after five years of HRT usage - the increase was of about 1 extra case per 1,000 women per year. The WHI estrogen-alone trial found a small but statistically significant reduction in breast cancer risk. The Million Women Study also raised concerns regarding breast cancer risk for women on long-term HRT.

Recently, the WHI and MWS studies have been criticized, with experts saying there were key flaws which limit the ability of the studies to establish a causal link between HRT and breast cancer.

A panel of experts, including endocrinologists, gynecologists and other health care professionals and scientists have carefully considered, researched and re-assessed the WHI and MWS studies, as well as other trials and studies. The new guidelines offer doctors a detailed review of the available evidence to help them make the best possible clinical decisions, as well as providing women with more balanced, impartial and accurate HRT treatments for menopausal females.

The aim of the HRT recommendations is to complement the BMS Observations and Recommendations on Menopause. These new guidelines detail key recommendations explaining how women can optimize their transition into menopause and beyond.

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Hormone Replacement Therapy - Updated Recommendations, At Last!

Denver Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon Dr. Tanya Atagi Announces Bioidentical Hormone Replacement in Denver

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Denver, CO (PRWEB) June 06, 2013

Dr. Tanya Atagi, renowned boardcertified plastic surgeon and medical director of Atagi Plastic Surgery & Atagi Skincare Aesthetics in Denver, CO announced that she will now be offering BioTE bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, a highly effective and versatile treatment that allows both women and men to feel younger.

For many years, I have helped men and women combat the physical signs of aging through my cosmetic surgery work, said Dr. Atagi. Now, with BioTE, I can help my Denver patients feel younger, too. By alleviating the symptoms of hormone imbalance, I can improve their quality of life from the inside out.

When beginning BioTE therapy, a small pellet is gently inserted into the fatty tissue just under the skin. Pellets release natural hormones unlike oral and topical forms of therapy which produce roller coaster hormone levels, resulting in mood and energy fluctuations for the patient. BioTE is the only method that provides sustained affinity dependent levels throughout the day, for months at a time. The entire quick and painless procedure can be completed within the comfort of Dr. Atagis office, and patients can resume their normal activities right away.

With this hormone replacement therapy, a multitude of conditions can be safely and effectively remedied.

BioTE bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can treat a broad spectrum of menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, migraines, low sex drive, depression as well as restore bone density to prevent osteoporosis, improve sleep patterns, alleviate vaginal dryness, urinary incontinence and effectively decrease the risk Alzheimers disease, heart disease, stroke and high cholesterol.

Additionally, BioTE bioidentical hormone replacement is an option for men suffering from hormone imbalance in Denver. Conditions that are commonly associated with low testosterone levels, also known as low T, can easily be combatted with the BioTE method. Symptoms associated with low testosterone levels include fatigue, lack of mental acuity, low libido and sex drive, impotence, and lack of muscle mass and weight gain.

I look forward to helping Denver patients, both young and mature, restore their youthful vitality and health with this convenient therapy, concluded Dr. Atagi. Because the hormones used are completely natural, the BioTE method is ideal for those wanting the benefits of a natural hormone without the drawbacks of a synthetic. For this reason, I believe BioTE is truly a revolutionary new option in Denver for bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

About Dr. Tanya Atagi

Dr. Atagi is the medical director of Atagi Plastic Surgery & Atagi Skin Aesthetics in Lone Tree, Colorado in the Denver area. One of only a handful of board-certified, female plastic surgeons in Colorado, medical director Dr. Tanya Atagi is a fellowship-trained plastic surgeon who received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University, plastic surgery training at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis, and completed specialized aesthetic fellowship training in Denver.

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Denver Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon Dr. Tanya Atagi Announces Bioidentical Hormone Replacement in Denver

Hormone replacement therapy and heart health: an update

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It seems that every time one reads a recent article on estrogen replacement therapy, the risks and benefits have somewhat changed, recommendations have been altered, or new studies provide frankly surprisingly opposite conclusions compared with past ones.

Hormone therapy (HT) used to be routinely prescribed for postmenopausal women to relieve hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. Hormone replacement therapy was also thought to reduce the risk of heart disease. Does it?

Before menopause, women have a lower risk of heart disease than men do. But as women age, their risk of heart disease increases due to decreasing estrogen levels. About twenty years ago, we used to advise older women to take estrogen and other hormones to keep their hearts healthy. However, hormone therapy has had mixed results in this regard. Many of the hoped-for benefits failed to materialize for large numbers of women. The largest randomized, controlled trial to date actually found an insignificant increase in heart disease in postmenopausal women using hormone therapy.

Still, some data suggest that estrogen may decrease the risk of heart disease when taken early in postmenopausal years.

In a Danish study, after 10 years of treatment, women receiving HT early after menopause had a significantly reduced risk of mortality and heart disease symptoms, without any apparent increase in risk of cancer or stroke.

Another clinical trial, the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), exploring estrogen use and heart disease in younger postmenopausal women was recently completed, with results expected soon.

If you are having symptoms of menopause but are concerned about how hormone therapy will affect your heart, talk with your physician to put your personal risk into perspective.

The risk of heart disease to an individual woman taking hormone therapy is actually very low. If you are in early menopause and have hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms, and are otherwise healthy, the benefits of hormone therapy likely outweigh any potential risks of heart disease.

Your personal risk of heart disease depends on many factors, including your family history, personal medical history and your lifestyle.

If you're at low risk of heart disease, and your menopausal symptoms are significant, hormone therapy may be a reasonable consideration.

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Hormone replacement therapy and heart health: an update

Hormone replacement therapy: British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern release updated guidelines

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May 24, 2013 The British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern have today released updated guidelines on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to provide clarity around the role of HRT, the benefits and the risks. The new guidelines appear in the society's flagship title, Menopause International, published by SAGE.

Over the last 11 years, HRT has changed from being branded the "elixir of youth" to being considered extremely risky and only to be used in certain circumstances. Since the publication of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial in 2002, and the Million Women study (MWS) in 2003, confusion and controversy has surrounded the use of HRT and the known benefits have often been forgotten.

A panel of experts have carefully considered, researched and reanalyzed the WHI and MWS studies alongside conducting further trials and studies, to offer practioners a detailed review of the evidence to help them optimize their clinical decisions, and provide women with more balanced and accurate advice on HRT treatment for menopause.

The new HRT recommendations are designed to complement the BMS Observations and Recommendations on menopause. The updated guidelines detail key recommendations targeting access to advice on how women can optimize their menopause transition and beyond, focusing in particular on lifestyle and diet and an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of complementary therapies and HRT.

"Our aim is to provide helpful and pragmatic guidelines for health professionals involved in prescribing HRT and for women considering or currently using HRT" says Nick Panay, Chair of The British Menopause Society and lead author of the recommendations. "With these updated recommendations, it is hoped that HRT will once again be used appropriately and provide benefits for many women in their menopause."

"The 2013 British Menopause Society & Women's Health Concern recommendations on hormone replacement therapy" by Nick Panay, Haitham Hamoda, Roopen Arya and Michael Sarvas on behalf of the British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern, published by SAGE in Menopause International, XX June 2013.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by SAGE Publications, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Hormone replacement therapy: British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern release updated guidelines

Hormone replacement therapy — clarity at last!

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Public release date: 24-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Katie Baker katie.baker@sagepub.co.uk 020-732-48719 SAGE Publications

The British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern have today released updated guidelines on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to provide clarity around the role of HRT, the benefits and the risks. The new guidelines appear in the society's flagship title, Menopause International, published by SAGE.

Over the last 11 years, HRT has changed from being branded the "elixir of youth" to being considered extremely risky and only to be used in certain circumstances. Since the publication of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial in 2002, and the Million Women study (MWS) in 2003, confusion and controversy has surrounded the use of HRT and the known benefits have often been forgotten.

A panel of experts have carefully considered, researched and reanalyzed the WHI and MWS studies alongside conducting further trials and studies, to offer practioners a detailed review of the evidence to help them optimize their clinical decisions, and provide women with more balanced and accurate advice on HRT treatment for menopause.

The new HRT recommendations are designed to complement the BMS Observations and Recommendations on menopause. The updated guidelines detail key recommendations targeting access to advice on how women can optimize their menopause transition and beyond, focusing in particular on lifestyle and diet and an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of complementary therapies and HRT.

"Our aim is to provide helpful and pragmatic guidelines for health professionals involved in prescribing HRT and for women considering or currently using HRT" says Nick Panay, Chair of The British Menopause Society and lead author of the recommendations. "With these updated recommendations, it is hoped that HRT will once again be used appropriately and provide benefits for many women in their menopause."

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"The 2013 British Menopause Society & Women's Health Concern recommendations on hormone replacement therapy" by Nick Panay, Haitham Hamoda, Roopen Arya and Michael Sarvas on behalf of the British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern, published by SAGE in Menopause International, XX June 2013.

The article will be freely available for a limited time period here. And will be freely available on the British Menopause Society's website thereafter.

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Hormone replacement therapy -- clarity at last!

Women's health: Women in their 50s face changes, choices like hormone therapy

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For women in their 50s, lower estrogen levels lead to menopause and a whole set of health concerns.

"This is the beginning of the aging process," says Kate Beadle, a Kaiser Permanente nurse practitioner who specializes in menopause.

Dr. Audrey Curtis, who's helping start a women's health clinic at Legacy Meridian Park, says: "A lot of women feel like they're on a roller coaster. Their hormone levels are doing what they did in the teenage years, really up and down."

For some women, the answer is hormone replacement therapy to deal with symptoms of menopause. But the 50-year history of HRT has been as wild as the mood swings it is supposed to prevent. And the changing recommendations for women, as well as cancer fears, have led to confusion and stress.

Introduced in the 1960s, long-term estrogen treatment was marketed as a wonder therapy to combat aging, disease and depression. Two 1975 studies indicating increased cancer risk made a temporary dent in sales, but it didn't last as other hormones like progestin were added to the therapy, supposedly eliminating the added cancer risk.

In 2002, a major study by the federal Women's Health Initiative made a much bigger impression, linking estrogen-based treatment and elevated cancer risk. And estrogen was not a miracle drug that prevented certain chronic diseases, contrary to an earlier study.

Since then, the Women's Health Initiative has been criticized for design flaws by medical researchers and other experts, and even its authors have backtracked on some of their warnings of elevated risk of heart disease.

In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a review of published research, including the Women's Health Initiative, and did not address the use of HRT to treat symptoms of menopause. However, it recommended against the use of HRT by post-menopausal women to prevent chronic disease.

The task force concluded:

Estrogen plus progestin and estrogen alone decreased risk for bone fractures.

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Women's health: Women in their 50s face changes, choices like hormone therapy

Findings Presented at ENDO 2013 Support Therapeutic Potential of Natpara® as Parathyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy …

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BEDMINSTER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NPSP), a biopharmaceutical company pioneering and delivering therapies that transform the lives of patients with rare diseases worldwide, yesterday presented findings supporting the therapeutic potential of Natpara (recombinant full-length human parathyroid hormone or rhPTH [1-84]) in poster sessions at ENDO 2013, The Endocrine Societys 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Natpara is a bioengineered replica of human parathyroid hormone that is being developed by NPS for adults with hypoparathyroidism, a rare and complex endocrine disorder that is characterized by insufficient levels of parathyroid hormone, the bodys principal regulator of calcium and phosphorus.

These findings suggest Natpara may provide an important new treatment option for patients with hypoparathyroidism by improving the calcium and phosphorus mineral imbalance associated with this complex disorder while significantly reducing the dependence on calcium and vitamin D supplementation, said Roger Garceau, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals. Our growing collection of clinical data for Natpara supports its therapeutic potential as the first replacement therapy targeting the underlying cause of adult hypoparathyroidism and we look forward to filing our U.S. Biologic License Application later this year.

Hypoparathyroidism is the only classic endocrine disorder without an FDA-approved replacement therapy. Current treatment approaches focus on symptom management through high doses of calcium and active vitamin D, which can lead to serious side effects and long-term consequences.

Treatment with Natpara resulted in maintained serum active vitamin D levels despite a significant reduction in active vitamin D requirements.

In a poster presentation on Sunday, June 16, lead study investigator Dolores M. Shoback, M.D., Professor in Residence at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, presented results analyzing the effects of Natpara on vitamin D metabolism in patients with hypoparathyroidism in two clinical trials, a Phase 1 study and REPLACE, a Phase 3 registration study. The results indicate that Natpara treatment maintains serum levels of active vitamin D in the normal range despite a significant reduction in active vitamin D requirements, while maintaining serum calcium at or near baseline, and reducing 24-hour urinary calcium in patients deficient in endogenous PTH secretion.

All patients enrolled were prescribed calcium and active vitamin D supplements (calcitriol or 1 alpha calcifediol). In the Phase 1 study, patients received two doses of Natpara (50 and 100 g), separated by a washout period of seven days or more.

In the Phase 1 study, serum active vitamin D increased to maximum baseline-adjusted level of 27.2 18.3 and 19.6 11.0 pg/ml with the 50-g and 100g doses of Natpara, respectively. 24-hour urine calcium excretion decreased by 13% and 23% with the 50- and 100g doses, respectively. Serum calcium levels showed maximum mean increases of 0.7 to 0.9 mg/dL 12 hours after the Natpara injection and remained above baseline levels after 24 hours with either dose.

In REPLACE, 43% (36/84) patients treated with Natpara became independent of active vitamin D and reduced daily calcium to less than 500 mg/day versus 5% (2/37) patients in the placebo group by week 24 (P

At week 24, mean urine calcium decreased by -74 190 mg/24 hours in the Natpara group and -84 169 mg/24 hours in the placebo group (P=0.06). In the placebo arm, reductions in urine calcium were mirrored by decreased total serum calcium levels. In contrast, total serum calcium remained above or near the baseline levels in Natpara-treated patients. Serum calcium levels were significantly higher in the Natpara group versus the placebo group at weeks 1-16 (P

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Findings Presented at ENDO 2013 Support Therapeutic Potential of Natpara® as Parathyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy ...


  1. Hormone Replacement Therapy