Advances in vasomotor symptom treatments
Transcript: Oestradiol and progesterone treatments
Dr Lisa Larkin
All transcripts are created from interview footage and directly reflect the content of the interview at the time. The content is that of the speaker and is not adjusted by Medthority.
So during the perimenopause and the menopause transition, there are many options for treating all of the symptoms that women are experiencing, including vasomotor symptoms. In the perimenopause, when women still have some ovarian function, the most commonly used, but not the only available option is oral contraceptives. Often we will use them and we run them continuously, and what this allows us is to help with the very rapidly changing, inconsistent ovarian hormone production. And many women feel much better with continuous oral contraceptives run across their cycle.
When it comes to women who are menopausal, there are many formulations of what we call menopausal hormone therapy. There are oral options, there are transdermal options, and there are vaginal options. What's important to note is that the big study that was used that we all talk about, the women's health initiative, that was used to evaluate the impact of menopausal hormone therapy on prevention of disease, used one specific formulation of an oral combination or oral conjugated equine oestrogen at one specific dose.
So all of this large body of data that we have is really, again, one specific medication, oral at one dose, and this is one type of oestrogen. It was actually conjugated equine oestrogen with one specific progestin. Today we have many different options available that have all different kinds of progestins, and have different types of oestrogen. So now all of the formulations may have oestradiol, not just conjugated equine oestrogen, and now we have formulations that include different progestins, and also we have an oral option that includes micronised progesterone. Why we each would choose one of these options really depends on the specific individual.
So there may be times when an oral medication is preferred or a transdermal option, and there may be times when one specific dose is effective in one woman but not in another. And so the good news is we have a whole, many, many options in our toolkit for menopausal hormone therapy, both during the perimenopause transition and postmenopausally. And again, it's an individual decision on which option to use with an individual patient.
Updates in your area
of interest
of interest
Articles your peers
are looking at
are looking at
Bookmarks
saved
saved
Days to your
next event
next event
Developed independently by EPG Health, which received an educational grant from Heartbeat, on behalf of Astellas, to help provide its healthcare professional members with access to the highest quality medical and scientific information, education and associated relevant content.