Progestogens are added to
estrogen replacement therapy for postmenopausal women to prevent
endometrial hyperplasia and
adenocarcinoma, and in sequential
therapy to promote a regular and predictable bleed. This protective effect of
progestogens is well recognized, but it is not due to endometrial shedding at a withdrawal bleed and cannot be predicted from the pattern or timing of the bleed. While irregular
bleeding may be a reflection of endometrial abnormality and possibly insufficient
progestogen, a regular controlled bleed may also occur in the presence of endometrial abnormality. A large multicenter study of postmenopausal women who were taking standard 28-day sequential regimens of
estrogen and
progestogen found a 2.7% prevalence of complex
hyperplasia, and most of these women had a normal and regular
bleeding pattern. Regular
bleeding may also occur from an atrophic endometrium.
Therapy employing a longer cycle with a course of
progestogen given every 4 or 4 months may improve patient continuance for long-term
therapy. During the
estrogen-only phase, the endometrium becomes increasingly proliferative, and simple or cystic
hyperplasia may develop only after about 12 weeks, and then can be corrected by
progestogen. Women seem to prefer a less frequent withdrawal bleed despite the higher incidence of
breakthrough bleeding compared to a monthly loss. Continuous combined
therapy with
estrogen and
progestogen taken every day causes no withdrawal bleed, though some will have light
breakthrough bleeding for the initial 2 or 3 months. The continuous
progestogen keeps the endometrium atrophic and also converts preexisting
complex endometrial hyperplasia occurring during sequential
therapy to a normal state. As yet, there are no clinical guidelines that can give reassurance about the state of the endometrium in postmenopausal women who are taking
hormone replacement therapy.