CONTRACEPTION BY AN INJECTABLE, LONG-ACTING OESTROGEN-PROGESTOGEN AGENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT The author reports the results of a clinical study on 17 fertile women treated through a total of 120 cycles with Deladroxate, an injectable, long-acting oestrogen-progestogen. The injections were administered on the 8th (7th–9th) day of each cycle. Before treatment was started, the patients were observed through 2 cycles with regard to cycle length as well as duration and amount of flow. Moreover, ovulation was assessed by means of daily recording of basal body temperature (BBT), pregnanediol analyses, total pituitary gonadotrophin analyses, and endometrial biopsies. In some cases the dosage had to be increased because of a shortening of the cycle. The mean cycle length during the treatment was 24.2 days, though with fairly marked variations (mean cycle length before institution of treatment: 28.2 days). Duration of flow ranged from 3–35 days. About 84% of 108 withdrawal bleedings lasted for 4–8 days. Of the flows 56 % were of normal amount, while the majority of the remaining 44 % were scantier than in the patients with normal periods. The ovulation-inhibiting effect of Deladroxate was assessed by daily recording of BBT, pregnanediol and pituitary gonadotrophin assays, and endometrial biopsies. Five of the 41 BBT curves (41 cycles) were biphasic. Four out of 34 endometrial biopsies, obtained on the 23rd day of the cycle, showed a secretory phase. Forty out of 41 cycles were anovulatory, as assessed by the pregnanediol excretion, while in 1 cycle the excretion pattern was not characteristic. In 20 out of 37 cycles there was a definite depression of gonadotrophin excretion, while in 17 cycles the excretion pattern was not characteristic. The effect of Deladroxate on the adrenal cortex was studied by means of 17-ketogenic steroid and 17-ketosteroid excretion. With both groups of steroids there seemed to be a tendency to a reduced excretion during treatment. No changes in the fibrinogen, prothrombin, GO-transaminase, bilirubin, or thymol values were observed during treatment. Side effects during treatment, recorded in 11 of the 17 subjects, were in most cases slight and transient. The most common complaints were breast tenderness, oedema, and irregularities of bleeding. No pregnancy occurred during treatment.