Hormone therapy
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Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of
hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are oncologic hormone therapy, hormone replacement therapy (for menopause), androgen replacement therapy (ART), oral contraceptive pills, and transgender hormone therapy
.
Types
- progestins, and sometimes, testosterone. It is often referred to as "treatment" rather than therapy.
- Hormone replacement therapy for people with intersex conditions (e.g., Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome)
- Androgen replacement therapy (ART) in males with low levels of testosterone due to disease or aging. It is a hormone treatment often prescribed to counter the effects of male hypogonadism[2] or for men who have lost their testicular function to disease, cancer, or other causes.[3] It is sometimes used for late-onset hypogonadism (so-called "andropause"), but the significance of a decrease in testosterone levels is debated and its treatment with replacement is controversial. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated in 2015 that neither the benefits nor the safety of testosterone have been established in older men with low testosterone levels.[4]
- non-binary people may also undergo hormone therapy. Cross-sex hormone treatment for transgender individuals is divided into two main types: feminizing hormone therapy and masculinizing hormone therapy.
- transgender women
- transgender men
- Hormonal therapy for cancer
- Androgen deprivation therapy for men with prostate cancer
- Estrogen deprivation therapy for women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer
- High-dose estrogen therapyfor women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer
- Chemical castration of men or sex offenders with paraphilias or hypersexuality
- Growth hormone therapy for growth hormone deficiency
- Thyroid hormone replacement in hypothyroidism
- Antithyroid therapy in hyperthyroidism
- Glucocorticoid and/or mineralocorticoid replacement in conditions such as Addison's disease
- Antiglucocorticoid therapy in Cushing's syndrome
- Insulin therapy in Type 1 Diabetes
- Oral contraceptive pills for various purposes including birth control
- Menstrual suppression