Hormone Therapy for Kidney Cancer

The experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America use hormone therapy (also called hormonal therapy) for both prostate cancer and kidney cancer. This type of treatment is used to keep cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow. Hormones are chemicals produced by glands in your body, and are circulated in the bloodstream. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that affect the way some cancers grow. If tests show that your cancer cells have estrogen, progesterone, and/or testosterone receptors (molecules found in some cancer cells to which estrogen and progesterone will attach), hormone therapy is used to block the way these hormones help the cancer grow. This treatment may include the use of drugs that change the way hormones work, or surgery to remove the ovaries that make female hormones.

Hormone therapy with tamoxifen is often given to women with early stages of kidney cancer and those with metastatic kidney cancer (cancer that has spread to other parts of the body). Hormone therapy with tamoxifen or estrogens can act on cells all over the body and may increase the chance of developing endometrial cancer (the endometrium is the inner lining of the uterus). If you are taking tamoxifen, you should have a pelvic examination every year to look for any signs of cancer. You should also report any vaginal bleeding, other than menstrual bleeding, to your doctor as soon as possible.

Like chemotherapy, hormonal therapy is a systemic treatment; it can affect cancer cells throughout the body.