Confusion About Testosterone Therapy and Prostate Cancer

One of the most popular side effects of hormone replacement therapy as a drug for low testosterone in men is the increased risk of prostate cancer. However, like the Million Women Study linking HRT and breast cancer, the evidence supporting this belief is dated and may be false. In fact, according to some modern studies, low testosterone is actually a risk factor for male cancer types.

The theory that testosterone replacement increases the risk of prostate cancer goes back to research conducted at the University of Chicago in the 1940s by a group led by urologist Charles Huggins. Based on experiments performed first on dogs and later on humans, the Huggins group concluded that prostate cancer was androgen dependent - when testosterone levels were high, the cancer worsened, but as it was lowered, the cancer decreased. Huggins's theory has made surgery - penile removal - a standard treatment for prostate cancer due to a decrease in testosterone. Huggins was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966 for his contribution to medical research.

Huggins' findings have led scientists and doctors to believe for many years that testosterone levels and prostate cancer incidents are linked, despite the fact that their experiments do not test or prove them and are limited to a few test subjects. This has caused medical professionals to be skeptical of hormone replacement therapy, fearing it could lead to the development of prostate cancer. Many refrain from setting up HRT, despite its benefits.

Over time, more research has been done, and studies show that men with low testosterone appear to have prostate cancer at a higher rate than average, and that testosterone only causes prostate cancer progression in men who have been corrected, and not in men. which still produces testosterone naturally. The relationship between prostate cancer and testosterone needs to be reviewed.

Eventually, the medical community began to change the song as it was presented with new evidence. A number of studies conducted in the 2000s, including those published by the New England Journal of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic, showed no correlation between high testosterone levels and prostate cancer. A separate study by Abraham Morgentaler, a leading doctor in the field, showed that increasing testosterone levels in men already diagnosed with prostate cancer did not lead to further development of the disease, and men at low testosterone levels were actually at higher risk for prostate cancer than men with total higher. It is now clear that the relationship between testosterone and prostate cancer has been misunderstood for much of the 20th century, and hormone replacement as a way of increasing low testosterone levels in men will not cause the disease.

So if you are a man who suspects he may have low testosterone, and is considering hormone replacement therapy, you can rest easy. HRT will not give you prostate cancer; in fact, it can help prevent it.

Confusion About Testosterone Therapy and Prostate Cancer


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