Estrogen replacement therapy: current thinking and practice.

Radiographic evaluation of the skeleton is not needed to assess need for hormone replacement. No available method (including CT and dual photon absorptiometry) can predict osteoporosis. Because patients prone to osteoporosis cannot be preselected, all women should be considered probable victims. To avoid excess bone mineral loss, estrogens should begin soon after the diagnosis of menopause in women who do not have contraindications, regardless of symptoms.