Perfil androgénico en mujeres hirsutas: Modificaciones de sus niveles en la fase lútea

introduction: the aim of the present study was to evaluate the circulating levels of testosterone (t), free t (tl), dheas and androstanediol glucuronide (a2g) in hirsute women with regular menstrual cycles (cm) in follicular phase (ff), and in a samples obtained 5 to 10 days before the next menstrual bleeding (fl), in order to 1) biochemically define type of hirsutism and 2) determine whether the increase in progesterone (p4) induces changes in androgen levels. materials and methods: sixty five hirsute women with regular cm were studied. ff levels of t, a2g and dheas were determined by ria, and tl by mass law calculation. fl levels of p4 were measured by ria. in 28 of the 65 patients the androgen profile was also evaluated in fl. results: the levels of t correlated in every case with those of tl. in 51 patients p4 levels were ovulatory. twenty five of them showed normal androgen levels (idiopathic hirsutism). from the remaining 26 patients, 2 had increased t, and 4 had increased dheas. two parameters were found increased in the following cases: dheas and a2g in 2, t and dheas in 1, and t and a2g in 1. all the 3 parameters were found increased in 4 cases. these patients were ovulatory hiperandrogenic women. the remaining 12 of these 26 hirsute women had only a2g increased. since this steroid is the peripheral expression of the 5a reductase activity, these women could be included in the ovulatory hiperandrogenic group because of a local increase in dht. in 14 of the 65 patients the levels of p4 correlated with anovulatory cycles corresponding to polycystic ovarian syndrome (sop). in 6 of them an increase of 1, 2 or the 3 parameters were observed (hiperandrogenic sop); in the remaining 6 patients androgen levels were normal (sop with clinical hirsutism). fl a2g significantly increased in women with ovulatory cycles (4.89±2.19 vs 3.36±2.38 ng/ml in fl and ff, respectively. differences were no significant in the anovulatory patients (4.32±3.16 vs 4.69±4.54 ng/ml in fl an