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Breast cancer treatment and menopause: a double challenge

Breast Cancer Trials

Breast Cancer Trials will bring together a Q&A panel of leading health professionals and an individual with lived experience to explore menopause during and after breast cancer treatment on Wednesday November 25th at 5pm – 6.30pm AEDT.

“This conversation will acknowledge the very real impact menopause can have during and after breast cancer treatment, while highlighting the importance of individualised care and the growing range of strategies available to help people manage their symptoms and live well,” said Breast Cancer Trials CEO Karen Price. 

Some breast cancer treatments may cause menopause to begin earlier or more suddenly, while others can trigger new symptoms or worsen existing ones. For many people, these challenges are long lasting, affecting physical health, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and quality of life.

Moderated by Journalist and Author Annabel Crabb, the panel will discuss why symptoms occur, the treatment options that may be available, managing menopause after breast cancer, hormone replacement therapy, and where to find trusted advice and support.

Expert panellist Dr Christina Jang, a consultant endocrinologist with expertise in women's reproductive health and the current President of the Australasian Menopause Society, says, “Women’s oestrogen levels are relatively stable until the perimenopause, at which time the hormones fluctuate. They go up and down literally like a roller coaster. Once post-menopausal, the oestrogen levels are very low.

“For women who undergo breast cancer treatment, some of the treatments they receive, such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, can render them menopausal. And instead of their hormones slowly declining, they drop very suddenly, and their symptoms can be really severe and very dramatic, very quickly.”  

The panel also includes:

• Professor Martha Hickey - A Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne. She leads Australia’s largest menopause service, focusing on cancer patients.
• Dr Janine Lombard – A Medical Oncologist who has been conducting breast and gynaecological research in the Medical Oncology Research Department at Calvary Mater Newcastle since 2006 and been involved in several important trials that have significantly changed clinical practice.
• Ms Kate MacDonald – A member of Breast Cancer Trials’ Consumer Advisory Panel, Kate was brought into early menopause, resulting in what she describes as “menopause on steroids.”

Tash Whitaker, from the Gold Coast, was diagnosed with stage 2/3 invasive ductal carcinoma in June 2024.

“I went from being diagnosed with breast cancer at 48 and not really having any perimenopause symptoms to being instantly in chemical menopause once I started chemotherapy,” she explained. “Then four months after treatment finished, I had an oophorectomy, which put me into permanent menopause.”

Tash suffered hot flushes that drenched her bedclothes, dry hair and skin, weight changes, brain fog, insomnia, high cholesterol, and bone pain, in addition to lymphoedema and financial stress from her ongoing medication costs.

“Throughout my journey, the realities of instant menopause were never explained,” Tash says. “Women should be fully informed about what their life will be like in menopause, because it is instant. It’s not just a few hot flushes.”

Participants can register for the Q&A on Breast Cancer Trials’ website.

About us:

Founded in 1978, Breast Cancer Trials conducts a multicentre national and international clinical trials research program into the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Every breast cancer treatment available today has been proven through clinical trials research. The work of Breast Cancer Trials has improved the treatment of breast cancer, led to changes in the way breast cancer is managed and has saved thousands of lives. More than 1,000 researchers in 118 institutions across Australia and New Zealand are committed to the vision of no more lives cut short.

Contact details:

Sara McGregor

Media & PR Lead

M: 0424 591 241  

E: [email protected]