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Systemic therapy
Hormone therapy
Treatment that removes or blocks the hormones some cancers depend on.
What it is
Some tumours grow in response to oestrogen, progesterone or testosterone. Hormone therapy removes that signal, by blocking the receptor, by stopping the body producing the hormone, or both.
These are long treatments, often taken for years. The difficulty is rarely the first month; it is year three, when the side effects are still there and the reason for continuing feels abstract.
When it is used
- Where receptor testing shows the tumour is hormone-driven
- After surgery and other treatment, to reduce recurrence risk over years
- As the main treatment in some settings, particularly in prostate disease
How the decision is made
- Receptor status must be confirmed, and where the report is ambiguous, reviewed independently before a multi-year treatment is started on it.
- Which agent, and for how long. Duration is a real decision, not a default.
- Bone health, cardiovascular risk and menopausal effects planned for at the start, not managed as complaints later.
Tablets or injections. Injections may be given at a partner unit or arranged locally.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- Receptor interpretation and independent pathology review
- Agent and duration decision at the board
- Bone density and cardiovascular surveillance planning
- Menopause and sexual health support, the effects nobody asks about
- Long-term adherence follow-up through the survivorship programme
Performed and billed elsewhere
- The medicine
- Bone density scanning
- Injections where given locally
- Do not stop hormone therapy because of side effects without telling us. Almost every side effect has a management option, and stopping silently is the most common reason a multi-year treatment fails.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- What is my receptor status, and how confident are we in it?
- How many years, and what changes if I stop early?
- What will this do to my bones, my heart and my menopause?
- What can be done about the side effects I am most worried about?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Not sure this is the right option for you?
That is exactly what a second opinion is for. Bring what you have, we will tell you what is missing and what the alternatives actually are, in writing.