Very high doses of
Estrace can work to relieve the symptoms of certain cancers, including breast and
prostate cancer. For prostate cancer, high doses of the estrogens in Estrace work by suppressing testosterone and other male hormones that "feed" prostate cancer. It is not entirely clear how high doses of Estrace work for
breast cancer, as estrogen typically stimulates breast cancer cell growth. Estrace will not cure these types of cancers and should only be used to relieve symptoms when other treatments have failed to treat the cancer adequately. This is known as "palliative" cancer therapy.
Estrace Use in Younger Women
Sometimes, younger women do not produce enough estrogen, for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the ovaries simply stop working too soon, for unknown reasons. In other instances, certain medications (such as chemotherapy) have affected the ability of the ovaries to function properly. Some women have had their ovaries surgically removed. Or, perhaps, the ovaries never started working properly in the first place (which results in delayed or absent puberty). In all of these situations, Estrace can be used as a substitute for the estrogen that the ovaries cannot produce.
Estrace Use in Children and Teens
Estrace is not approved for use in children or teens. Discuss the risks and benefits of using Estrace with your child's healthcare provider.
On occasion, your healthcare provider may recommend Estrace for something other than the conditions listed above. This is called an "
off-label" use. At this time, Estrace is sometimes used off-label to treat uremic bleeding (bleeding due to kidney failure). At one point,
hormone replacement therapy was used off-label for
preventing heart disease and
dementia (such as
Alzheimer's disease), but these are no longer considered legitimate off-label uses. Sometimes, hormones are used to promote youthfulness. Again, this is not generally accepted as a legitimate off-label Estrace use.
Estrace is sometimes used off-label by men who are undergoing a sex reassignment process ("sex change").
Previous
Add this article to your Favorites
Email this article
Print