Hormone Therapy
Our team offers hormone therapy to treat certain breast and prostate cancers at Cancer Care in Tupelo and Starkville.
Treatment Targeted to Your Cancer
Hormone therapy is a treatment that slows or stops the growth of cancers. It is most commonly used to treat hormone-sensitive forms of breast and prostate cancers.
With hormone-sensitive breast and prostate cancers, tumors grow using hormones, the chemicals produced by the body like estrogen and testosterone. Hormone therapy works against these hormone-driven cancers in two different ways. They either block the body’s ability to produce hormones or interfere with how hormones behave in the body. Hormone therapy, which is also referred to as hormonal therapy, hormone treatment or endocrine therapy, is used to:
Treat hormone-sensitive cancer by stopping or slowing its growth
Prevent the recurrence of hormone-sensitive cancer after treatment
Reduce or prevent cancer symptoms
Hormone therapy is most often used along with other cancer treatments. The types of treatment that you need depend on the type of cancer, if it has spread and how far, if it uses hormones to grow, and if you have other health problems. Hormone therapy may be given in many ways, including:
Oral: Hormone therapy comes in pills that you swallow.
Injection: The hormone therapy is given by a shot in a muscle in your arm, thigh or hip or right under the skin in the fatty part of your arm, leg or belly.
Surgery: You may have surgery to remove organs that produce hormones. In women, the ovaries are removed. In men, the testicles are removed.
Side Effects of Hormone Therapy
Because hormone therapy blocks your body's ability to produce hormones or interferes with how hormones behave, it can cause unwanted side effects. The side effects you may have will depend on the type of hormone therapy you receive and how your body responds to it. People respond differently to the same treatment, so not everyone gets the same side effects. Some side effects also differ if you are a man or a woman.
Related Locations
Mississippi’s only cancer center with all 4 accreditations
Commission On Cancer Accredited Program
Commission on Cancer conducts evaluation every three years; NMMC accredited since 1981.
ACR Designated Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center
NMMC Breast Care Center designated comprehensive center by American College of Radiology
ACR Designated Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center
NMMC Breast Care Center designated comprehensive center by American College of Radiology
ACS accredits NMMC’s breast care program
Meets national standards for comprehensive, patient-centered, multidisciplinary care.
Related Resources
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Clinical Research
Cancer Care physicians actively contribute to research to improve care for current and future patients. Trials are available for all stages of cancer and include treatments, testing for biomarkers and lab devices.
Clinical Research
Cancer Care physicians actively contribute to research to improve care for current and future patients. Trials are available for all stages of cancer and include treatments, testing for biomarkers and lab devices.