Severe Exacerbation of Cancer of the Breast after Oöphorectomy and Adrenalectomy

THE recognition that the majority of breast cancers in premenopausal women and in many postmenopausal women are stimulated by estrogenic substances has become a basic guidepost in the treatment of patients with advanced carcinoma of the breast. The evidence for this assumption is to be found in clinical experience. Exacerbation of the disease shown by x-ray changes and urinary calcium excretion may be seen during the menstrual cycle in premenopausal women,1 or upon administration of estrogenic substances.2 The favorable response to ovariectomy confirms such a concept. Postmenopausal women with mammary cancers frequently have high urinary estrogen levels and may be . . .