EXCRETION DES STEROIDES CHEZ DES FEMMES PRESENTANT UN VIRILISME PILAIRE ASSOCIE A DES TROUBLES DU CYCLE MENSTRUEL

Abstract

ABSTRACT The authors present 39 observations of hirsutism or hairy virilism associated with important disturbances of the menstrual cycle and in whom they find no abnormality of the steroid secretion of adrenocortical origin. The observations included 20 cases of amenorrhoea and 19 cases of spaniomenorrhoea or hypomenorrhoea with ovular cycle. After administration of 15 mg of dexamethasone or 9α-fluoro-16α-methyl-prednisolone in five consecutive days, they have ascertained the existence of an appreciable amount of residual 1 7-ketosteroids, values of which were significantly increased, as compared with those found in normal women, whom presented a hairy virilism of adreno-cortical origin with normal or moderately increased values of 17-ketosteroids. Moreover, most of these subjects showed an abnormal increase of the phenolsteroids, bearing most often on the oestriol fraction. The authors deem that these abnormalities of the excretion of the residual 17-ketosteroids and phenolsteroids after suppression of corticotrophin activity by dexamethasone is caracteristic of the ovarian origin of the hairy virilism.