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THE LH‐RELEASING HORMONE TEST IN 31 WOMEN WITH SECONDARY AMENORRHOEA
Author(s) -
Nillius Sven Johan,
Wide Leif
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1972.tb12183.x
Subject(s) - luteinizing hormone , medicine , endocrinology , endocrine system , follicle stimulating hormone , hormone , menopause , anorexia nervosa , amenorrhea , biology , pregnancy , eating disorders , psychiatry , genetics
Summary Thirty‐one women with secondary amenorrhoea were given 100 μg. of synthetic luteinizing‐hormone‐releasing hormone (LRH) intravenously to test the capacity of the pituitary to respond to LRH with a release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH). The preceding endocrine investigation showed that three of the women had pituitary tumours and two had a premature menopause. The remaining 26 women were classified as functional amenorrhoea. This group included, among others, patients with anorexia nervosa, Chiari‐Frommel syndrome and amenorrhoea after oral contraceptive treatment. All the 26 patients with functional amenorrhoea responded to LRH with a significant increase of LH and, in 16 of them, also of FSH. The mean LH and FSH increase was 351 and 51 per cent respectively. The response to LRH indicates hypothalamic rather than pituitary dysfunction in this group. The smallest LH response to LRH was obtained in the women with anorexia nervosa. Patients with a low endogenous oestrogen production had a significantly smaller LH response than the rest of the group. The LH response to LRH was also significantly related to the pretreatment level of LH. Small but significant increases of LH were obtained in the three patients with pituitary tumours. The two women with premature menopause had LH responses to LRH in relation to their increased pretreatment LH levels while no further increase of their high FSH levels were observed. The LRH test can be performed without side effects in one hour in ambulant patients. It should be useful not only in the investigation of women with amenorrhoea but also as a valuable complement to the thyrotrophin‐releasing hormone (TRH) test in other patients with diseases of the pituitary and hypothalamus.