HRT and Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs): What Patients Need to Know

HRT and Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs): What Patients Need to Know

Before you read this… This article discusses hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the context of general health, menopause, and neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). It is provided for educational purposes only and does not recommend starting, stopping, or changing any form of HRT. The suitability of HRT depends on many individual factors, including tumour type, grade, hormone sensitivity, medical history, and personal risk–benefit considerations. These vary widely between people with NETs. Only your own specialist team can advise on whether HRT is appropriate for you. No treatment decisions should be made based on this article alone.   Hormones and cancer often get…
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Chemo or not Chemo – that is the question 

Chemo or not Chemo – that is the question 

I often see certain drugs for the treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) described as "chemotherapy". Although since I wrote the first edition of this post in 2016, I don't see it as much today in 2024.  Education is a wonderful thing! I think there must be some confusion with more modern drugs which are more targeted and work in a different way to Chemotherapy.  According to Mayo Clinic: "In many ways, cytotoxic chemotherapy is "targeted" at specific molecules that regulate progression through the cell cycle; however, these targets are generally not specific for tumour cells. Because systemic cytotoxic chemotherapy targets…
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