Failure to Demonstrate Plasma Hormone Abnormalities in Women with Operable Breast Cancer

The endocrine profile of patients with breast cancer has been the object of extensive studies during the past several years. Abnormal secretion of a variety of hormones has been described on different occasions in patients with breast cancer (Gambrell, 1982; Henderson et al., 1982; Kirschner et al., 1982; Kwa and Wang, 1977; Ohgo et al., 1976), and has been considered a possible risk factor. However, conclusive evidence has not yet been presented to show that the cancer patients are significantly different in endogenous hormone profiles from their healthy counterparts. The main purpose of the present study was to critically reevaluate this controversial issue and possibly identify hormonal changes in a large population of patients with operable breast cancer not present in a comparable population of normal healthy women.