Effect of oral contraceptive with and without associated estriol on ultrasound measurements of breast fibroadenoma: randomized clinical trial

Abstract

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Fibroadenomas are the most common benign tumors of the female breast. The aim of this study was to evaluate the proliferative activity of breast fibroadenoma as shown by ultrasound measurements, following administration of oral contraceptives with and without associated estriol. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial carried out in the Mastology Sector, Department of Gynecology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo. METHODS: We studied 33 women with fibroadenomas. Ten were placed in group 1 and took an oral contraceptive consisting of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol together with placebo material in the same capsule, for four consecutive cycles with a seven-day interval between them. The other 23 patients constituted group 2 and took the oral contraceptive as above together with estriol in the same capsule, in the same way as done by the group 1 patients. We took ultrasound measurements of their tumors (in three dimensions) before and after the intake of medication. At the end of the study, all the patients had their tumors removed by surgery. RESULTS: We observed decreased fibroadenoma width among the users of oral contraceptives with placebo, and this decrease was statistically significant. In the other group, we did not observe any changes (in width, length or height). CONCLUSION: The results confirm that estriol may block the protective effect of oral contraceptives on fibroadenomas, since we observed decreased fibroadenoma width among the group 1 patients but not the group 2 patients.

A prospective study on the role of centchroman in regression of fibroadenoma

“…The intake OCPs have been linked to decreased incidence and regression of fibroadenoma by Coriaty et al and Esteveo et al respectively. 18,20 However, no other study justifies this finding. The response to Centchroman therapy in nowhere related to history of previous OCP intake.…”

Oral Contraception Use in Benign Breast Tumor Patients in Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital

“…But this study differs from Sihombing's study (8) which states that oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast tumors and Yu's study (9) in which oral contraceptives increase the risk of fibroadenoma. Another study conducted by Estevão, Nazário, and Baracat (17) said that oral contraceptives have a protective factor against fibroadenoma. Armstrong (18) also said oral contraceptives users have a lower risk of benign breast disease.…”

“…470| Publisher: Humanistic Network for Science and Technology pill has the ability to stimulate the epithelium to produce more inhibitory factors so that breast growth can be suppressed, this was proven in his study where fibroadenoma size was reduced in the use of combined oral contraceptives evaluated using ultrasound (17) .…”

“…Another theory states that breast growth in fibroadenomas is mainly influenced by the mechanism of the paracrine hormone. Estevão, Nazário, and Baracat (17) stated that breast epithelium can produce growth factors that act on fibroblasts to stimulate DNA synthesis and induce their growth. However, this situation is balance because the epithelium also produces a stromal inhibitory factor.…”

xpression of estrogen and progesterone receptor genes in endometrium, myometrium and vagina of postmenopausal women treated with estriol

“…[14][15][16][17] The data so far available concerning estriol action on the endometrium, myometrium, vagina and breast are ambiguous, and they provide contradictory information. [18][19][20][21] It seems that differences in the affinity, specificity and concentrations of ERs in individual tissues are of much greater importance, together with changes in effector tissues that lead to different responses.…”