ABSTRACT
Breast cancer has well-defined histological criteria, but the etiology and pathogenesis of the cancer are varied for each histological type. The risk of estrogen-dependent breast cancer is modest when measured in terms of the overall prevalence of the disease but is, of course, highly significant for the individual cancer victim. The binding of estrogen to the estrogen response element is central to the physiological function of this sex steroid. Prolonged exposure of the breast tissue to estrogen is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. The impact of prescribed estrogen therapy (ET), and its effect on the breast, is additive to the breast tissue pretreatment hormonal milieu. Studies of the breast tissue’s response to ET by mammography, although subjective, indicate that the type and dose of hormone therapy influence the mammographic density of the breast. Low-dose transdermal estrogen therapy has a metabolic profile that most closely fits this objective.
