Confusion About Testosterone Therapy and Prostate Cancer

One of the most frequently cited side effects of hormone replacement therapy as a treatment for low testosterone in men is an increased risk of prostate cancer. But the evidence supporting this belief, like the Million Woman Study that linked HRT and breast cancer, is old and may be wrong. In fact, according to several recent studies, low testosterone is actually a risk factor for cancer in men.

The origin of the theory that testosterone supplementation increases the risk of prostate cancer dates back to research conducted at the University of Chicago in the 1940s by a group led by urologist Charles Haggins. Huggins & # 39; is based on experiments conducted first on dogs and then on humans. The group concluded that prostate cancer is androgen-dependent. The cancer worsens when testosterone levels are high, but the cancer shrinks when the level decreases. Haggins & # 39; theory has resulted in surgical castration—testicular removal—and has become the standard treatment for prostate cancer due to the decrease in testosterone. Huggins won the Nobel Prize in 1966 for their contribution to medical research.

Haggins & scientists and doctors have been testing steroids and prostate cancer for many years, despite the fact that his experiments have not been tested or proven and limited to a small number of subjects. I believed that the outbreak was related. This made health care workers skeptical of hormone replacement therapy and feared it could lead to the development of prostate cancer. Many people avoided HRT prescriptions, despite their benefits.

Over time, more research has been done, which shows that men with low testosterone appear to develop prostate cancer at a higher rate than average, and testosterone is only a progression of prostate cancer in castrated men In men who still produced testosterone naturally. The possible link between testosterone and prostate cancer needed to be reviewed.

Eventually, the medical community began to change its tone as new evidence was presented. Many studies in the 2000s, including those published by the New England Journal of Medicine and Mayo Clinic, have shown no correlation between elevated testosterone levels and prostate cancer. Another study conducted by Abraham Morgentaller, a leading figure in this field, showed that even if the level of testosterone in men already diagnosed with prostate cancer was increased, no further disease progression occurred, and testosterone Men with low levels of risk are actually at risk of developing prostate cancer than men with high levels. The relationship between testosterone and prostate cancer has been misunderstood for most of the 20th century, and it has become clear that hormone replacement as a means to compensate for low testosterone levels in men does not cause disease.

If you are a man with low testosterone levels and suspect that you are considering hormone replacement therapy, you can get rest. HRT does not give you prostate cancer; in fact, it may help prevent it.