Changes in the Output of 17-Ketosteroids After Shock Treatment, Pre-Frontal Leucotomy, and Other Procedures

Abstract

The estimation of the amount of neutral 17-ketosteroids excreted in the urine has attracted considerable attention, since the level of excretion (usually expressed as mgm./24 hours) can be fairly well correlated with the output of androgenic substances determined biologically (Callow et al., 1939a, b). What constitutes the normal range of daily output is still somewhat uncertain; 1.7 to 12.6 mgm. for females, 3.5 to 15 mgm. for males (Callow, 1939), 40 to 15 for normal women (Friedgood and Whidden, 1939), 4.3 to 21 mgm. (Chou and Wang, 1939), 3.5 to 14.6 mgm. for females, 9.4 to 20.4 for males (Patterson, McPhee, Greenwood, 1942) have been quoted. We have conducted investigations in a large number of cases of each sex in the last two years, and have come to regard 6 to 15 mgm. daily as the range for normal adults, females as a rule being lower in the scale than males; after middle age a somewhat reduced output is to be expected. It has been suggested (Patterson et al., 1942) that among normals higher values are related to larger body size, but we are unable to confirm this.