Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

VidCast: https://youtu.be/cdG-7SCuuSk Women experiencing serious post-menopausal symptoms including hot flashes and flushing are frequently prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  One uncommon but life-threatening risk associated with this therapy is venous thromboembolism, the formation of blood clots in leg or other veins that can travel up into the heart and lungs or beyond. British epidemiologists studied nearly 6000 women 40 to 79 years of age who had used HRT and compared them to over 21,000 who had not.  The only hormonal drugs not associated with any increased risk of thromboembolism were hormone patches, and with some patches the risk of clots was actually lower than for those women not using HRT. Women at higher risk for vein clots including those who are older, overweight, immobile, or having a family history of clotting should consider patch rather than oral estrogen therapy. #hormonereplacementtherapy #HRT #venousthromboembolism #VTE #estrogenpatch #healthnews Vinogradova Yana, Coupland Ca