Word: progestin
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Norplant is essentially an old contraceptive in a new package. Developed by the Population Council, an international nonprofit research group, and Wyeth- Ayerst Laboratories, a division of American Home Products Corp. of Philadelphia, the method prevents pregnancy by using the hormone progestin, which with estrogen is the active ingredient in most birth-control pills. Norplant consists of six progestin-filled silicone tubes, each about the size of a matchstick. In a simple 15-minute procedure, a doctor inserts the tubes just beneath the skin in a woman's upper arm. Once in place, the tiny cylinders start releasing progestin into...
...method does have drawbacks. Progestin causes irregular menstrual bleeding in 75% of women who use it. Women may get their periods at odd intervals, such as 3 or 7 weeks apart, and some could miss one altogether. The periods themselves can also be longer, an average of 8 days of bleeding or spotting as opposed to the normal 5 days. These effects diminish after the first two years, according to the manufacturers. In addition, the cost, although less than that of oral contraceptives, will be considerable. Wyeth- Ayerst officials will not reveal the price until marketing begins in February...
...study, conducted in Sweden, involved 23,244 women who were taking various types of estrogen, one of the main female sex hormones, after menopause; a third of them were also on progestin, an artificial form of the hormone progesterone. The researchers compared these women with others who had not taken hormones. The results: after nine years the women who took a kind of estrogen called estradiol had about twice the breast-cancer rate of those who were not on replacement therapy. The women on estrogen and progestin had a higher rate -- about four times as many cases of breast cancer...
Estrogen came into favor many years ago because it helped prevent osteoporosis and appeared to guard against heart disease. But it was discovered that estrogen increased the risk of uterine cancer. To lower the odds of contracting uterine cancer, many doctors added progestin to the treatment, and it was hoped that the drug would also help reduce any risk of breast cancer associated with estrogen alone. The drawback to progestin seemed to be that it reduces some of the benefits of estrogen, in particular the apparent protection against heart disease. Now the possibility of a breast- cancer risk has further...
...daily combination pills containing synthetic equivalents of the hormones progesterone and estrogen, with the latter in a microscopic dose; 2) sequential pills, which provide tablets of an estrogen alone for 14 to 16 days, followed by five to seven combination tablets. A third variety, the "one-everyday" pill of progestin (progesterone equivalent) only, is being tested but is not yet licensed for U.S. prescription...