Hormone therapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In medicine, hormone therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment and covers various types of hormones including growth hormones and sex hormones.
Types of hormone therapy include:
- hormone replacement therapy
- hormone treatment of Klinefelter's syndrome
- hormone treatment of Turner syndrome
- hormone replacement therapy in gender reassignment therapy
- treatment with growth hormone to treat growth hormone deficiency
- treatment with thyroid hormones in hypothyroidism
- replacement of testosterone in males with low levels due to disease or aging
- treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer with drugs which suppress the production of oestrogen[1]. Also called hormonal therapy or anti-estrogen therapy.
The oral contraceptive pill is a form of hormone therapy.
Anti-hormone treatment with hormone antagonists is also used: for example, the use of antiandrogens to suppress androgenic hormones.
In the past, a form of hormone therapy was used as a 'treatment' for homosexuality and other 'deviant' sexual behaviors, but this use was discontinued as homosexuality itself ceased to be considered a mental disorder. Perhaps the best known instance of this was Alan Turing; his alleged suicide is widely thought to have been due to depression brought on by these treatments. Similar usage of chemical castration is currently mandated as a punishment for violent sex offenders in some jurisdictions.
See also: chemotherapy
