HORMONE replacement therapy can help increase the lifespan of women suffering from coronary heart disease by over 10 years, a symposium on HRT, organised by the Irish Menopause Society, heard in Cork at the weekend.
Dr John C. Stevenson, director of the Wynn division of metabolic medicine, Imperial College of Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London, said premenopausal females rarely get coronary heart disease.
"But loss of ovarian function leads to a clear increase in coronary heart disease. This suggests that ovarian hormones protect against coronary heart disease and it seems likely HRT does the same," said Dr Stevenson.
The benefits of oestrogen are also seen in women with established coronary heart disease, with the greatest benefits an increase in 10 years in survival for those with the most severe coronary atheroma or thickening of the arteries.
"There is probably now sufficient evidence for the cardiovascular benefit of HRT to warrant its use in postmenopausal women with established coronary heart disease risk", Dr Stevenson said.
Professor of Radiology at University College Galway, Prof Peter McCarthy said that patients under 40 should probably have mammograms only in exceptional circumstances eg if they have had previous surgery or a family history of breast cancer.