Treatment5 min read

Hormone therapy

Many breast cancers are fuelled by oestrogen or progesterone. Hormone therapy blocks that fuel — quietly, powerfully, and for years.

If your tumour is hormone-receptor positive, it may depend on hormones to grow. Hormone therapy lowers hormone levels or blocks their effects, starving the cancer of what it needs.

Common hormone therapies

  • Tamoxifen: blocks oestrogen at the cancer cell
  • Aromatase inhibitors: lower oestrogen production after menopause
  • Ovarian suppression: stops the ovaries producing oestrogen

Hormone therapy is usually a daily tablet taken for five to ten years. Side effects can include hot flashes, joint pain and fatigue — manageable with support, and the protection lasts.

In brief

For hormone-receptor positive cancers
A daily tablet for many years
Stops the fuel, not the patient’s life

What you can do

Know your receptor status

It decides whether hormone therapy helps.

Manage side effects openly

Effective strategies exist for flashes and pain.

Keep learning

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