OBJECTIVE:

To identify and update, through a literature review, the magnitude of the risk involved in hormone replacement therapy in the incidence and recurrence of breast, ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancer in climacteric women. In addition, to evaluate the relationship with the time and type of treatment indicated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Retrospective study, literature search of studies published from 2010 to 2020 with oncologic outcomes associated with hormone replacement therapy. The search was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar search engines.

RESULTS:

We found 5848 related articles and discarded 3828 because they were published before 2010. The abstracts of 2020 articles were reviewed and 1980 were eliminated for not meeting the inclusion criteria. The final review was performed with 40 articles.

CONCLUSIONS:

Based on what has been published, the evidence suggests that there is an increased risk of breast cancer in users of combined hormone replacement therapy; the greatest secondary risk is with progestins. For endometrial the risk is higher with estrogens alone. For ovarian cancer the evidence is not sufficient to guide practice. For cervical cancer, the evidence suggests that hormone therapy has no risk. The risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy have considerable variations depending on the specific regimen and the individual circumstances of each patient.

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