Results of a recent study have uncovered a link between treatment with human growth hormone and colorectal cancer. Dr Anthony J Swerdlow and colleagues at the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK found that higher-than-average numbers of adults who had been treated with the hormone during childhood and early adulthood had died from cancer. Further investigations revealed that the patients also had a significantly greater risk than normal of dying from colorectal cancer or Hodgkin’s disease. All of the patients involved in the study had been treated with growth hormone derived from cadavers, a practice which was phased out after the development of a synthetic version of the hormone, thus whether the findings are relevant for people who have used the synthetic hormone is uncertain.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: The Lancet 2002; 360:268-269, 273-277
