EPISODIC SECRETION OF GROWTH HORMONE IN A MALE TRANS-SEXUAL DURING TREATMENT WITH OESTROGEN BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER ORCHIDECTOMY

Abstract

*University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jessop Hospital for Women, Sheffield, S3 7RE, †University Department of Paediatrics, Childrens Hospital, Sheffield, S10 2TH and ‡Medical Research Council Unit for Metabolic Studies in Psychiatry, Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield, S6 1TD (Received 22 February 1977) In 1965, Frantz & Rabkin reported a difference between the mean concentrations of growth hormone (GH) in the plasma of men and women during fasting, and recently the level of GH in the plasma has been shown to fluctuate from minute to minute (Finkelstein, Roffward, Boyar, Kream & Hellman, 1972). This work describes the spontaneous episodic pattern of GH secretion in a 27-year-old male trans-sexual before and after stilboestrol therapy, and after gonadectomy, again with and without oestrogen supplementation. Blood samples were collected for 15 min on four occasions: the patient as a normal male (test 1); several months after the patient had been prescribed diethylstilboestrol (5 mg daily,