DES (Diethylstilbestrol) and Breast Cancer
- 5-10 million women took DES (Diethylstilbestrol) from 1950-70
- DES affects both mothers and daughters
- DES daughters have a higher risk of breast cancer after age 40
- DES increases breast duct formation in utero
- DES can cause hormone receptor negative or positive breast cancer
- DES doubled breast cancer risk when given after the 9th week of pregnancy
- Breast cancer caused by DES may require surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy and prove fatal
Learn more about recent studies involving DES Breast Cancer - The United States' Center for Disease Control and the most recent national study published, (Palmer J, Wise L, Hatch E, et al. "Prenatal diethylstilbestrol exposure and risk of breast cancer". Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(8):1509-1514.) concluded that DES daughters over the age of forty are at a significantly increased risk for breast cancer.
Breast cancer strikes over 180,000 women per year in the U.S. and is the most feared cancer in women. Over forty thousand women die annually from this disease. Known risk factors include positive family history, early menarche, late menopause, absence of pregnancy and the use of estrogen-containing contraceptives. Diagnosis of breast cancer is usually made by a combination of self examination, mammography and biopsy. There are two basic types of breast cancer, ductal type and lobular type.
The ductal type is much more common and is approximately 90% of cases. Staging or determining the extent of breast cancer is critical and key prognostic variables include tumor size, lymph node involvement, hormone receptor positivity and presence or absence of a special growth factor called Her-2. Multiple types of physicians take care of breast cancer patients, whether due to DES or not, including primary care physicians, gynecologists, breast surgeons, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists. DES, a synthetic estrogen, has been suspected to cause breast cancer for years but only recently has been associated with a higher risk of breast cancer in women, especially in women over age 40 as outlined below.
Palmer et al, in their retrospective review, confirmed the prevailing hypothesis that increased levels of estrogen in the form of DES given to pregnant women correlated with the future development of breast cancer (25). These authors showed upon longer-term follow-up that DES is indeed associated with the development of breast cancer in women over the age of 40 whereas their earlier study failed to demonstrate this. The reason is that the breast cancer causing effects of DES simply required a longer period of time to be noticeable in the body. The authors obtained information from 4 large groups of women, 4,817 in all, whose mothers were exposed to DES and compared them to a control group of 2,073 women whose mothers were not given DES.
All other potentially confounding variables were controlled in the analysis of their data. Overall, there was a 40% increased risk of breast cancer in DES daughters, but the risk was over 90% higher in women over the age of 40. The risk was especially high, essentially double for DES daughters who were exposed after the 9th week in utero. In view of this finding, daughters of DES exposed women will require lifelong screening for breast cancer and should probably avoid hormone-based contraception.
For additional information on the link between breast cancer and diethylstilbestrol exposure please visit:
Risk of Breast Cancer in Women Exposed to Diethylstilbestrol In Utero: Preliminary Results
Potential Health Risks for DES Daughters
Palmer J.R. et al. Prenatal Diethylstilbestrol Exposure and Risk of Breast Cancer. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. 15; 8: 1509-1514, August 2006.
**This website should be used as an educational tool only. If you suspect you have symptoms of breast cancer, please contact a licensed physician for diagnosis and treatment.**