Abstract
The ideal way to determine whether estrogens cause endometrial or breast cancer would be to conduct an experiment. In a randomized clinical trial, postmenopausal women would be assigned to take or not take estrogen replacement therapy. Both groups of women would be followed thereafter with similar diagnostic methods to detect the occurrence of a neoplasm. For the study of endometrial caocer intra-endometrial examinations would be performed at regular intervals, while the study of breast cancer might require that treated and untreated patients have breast examinations with equal frequency and intensity. Although this type of clinical trial is scientifically desirable, most women would not accept or maintain such a randomized assignment to be treated or untreated.
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Horwitz, R.I., Feinstein, A.R. (1980). The Clinical Epidemiology of Breast and Uterine Cancer. In: Pasetto, N., Paoletti, R., Ambrus, J.L. (eds) The Menopause and Postmenopause. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7230-1_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7230-1_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7232-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-7230-1
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