cyproterone and Amenorrhea

Bleeding and climacteric symptoms were recorded in two groups of postmenopausal women receiving either continuous combined estradiol and norethisterone acetate or estradiol and cyproterone acetate. Out of a sample of 99 postmenopausal women aged 45 to 54 years, 86 completed a 2-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Comparison of the bleeding patterns in the two groups revealed a statistically significant difference: More women in the estradiol-cyproterone acetate group experienced bleeding and for a longer duration. Thirteen women in the estradiol-norethisterone acetate group were amenorrheic, compared with two in the other group. The Kupperman index score in both groups declined to about 30% to 40% of initial values (p less than 0.001). The hot flushes in both treatment groups decreased to a highly significant degree (p less than 0.001), to a value below 20% of baseline values. We conclude that a continuous combination of estrogen and progestogen can produce amenorrhea and symptomatic relief. However, the progestogen components seem to differ in their ability to control bleeding.

Topics: Amenorrhea; Androgen Antagonists; Cyproterone; Cyproterone Acetate; Double-Blind Method; Drug Therapy, Combination; Estradiol; Estrogen Replacement Therapy; Female; Hemorrhage; Humans; Menopause; Middle Aged; Norethindrone; Patient Compliance

The investigators compared 2 mg cyproterone acetate (CPA) in combination with either 0.035 mg or 0.050 mg ethinyl estradiol (EE2) (Diane -35 versus Diane -50) in the treatment of acne. Both formulations of Diane were highly effective in improving acne, even in women who had been refractory to other types of medication. Cycle control with both formulations was excellent and adverse effects were generally mild and confined to the first two cycles of treatment. Mean plasma lipid levels increased with both treatments, yet most individual values remained within normal limits after one year of therapy while the LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio was stable throughout the study period. Plasma testosterone and DHEA-S levels paralleled the decline in the clinical severity of the acne. There was no loss of clinical effectiveness with Diane -35 and it provided the advantage of a 30% decrease in the amount of estrogen.

Topics: Acne Vulgaris; Adolescent; Adult; Amenorrhea; Analysis of Variance; Apolipoproteins; Body Height; Body Weight; Cholesterol; Cyproterone; Cyproterone Acetate; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Double-Blind Method; Drug Combinations; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Humans; Menstrual Cycle; Testosterone; Triglycerides

We compared the efficacy and safety of cyproterone acetate (Shering AC, Berlin, FRG) at a low (Diane, 2 mg) or a high dose (Androcur, 100 mg) in the treatment of 158 patients with severe hirsutism. At baseline, no difference was observed in mean hirsutism total index (19.5 Diane versus 20.1 Androcur) or distribution (facial, bust, or abdomen). By the end of the study, patient loss in Diane and Androcur groups was 29.1% and 27.8%, respectively, and the mean percent difference in the scoring index was as follows: total, 24.6 Diane versus 30.8 Androcur, P less than 0.05; facial, 30.1 Diane versus 33.0 Androcur, P less than 0.10; bust, 12.1 Diane versus 31.2 Androcur, P less than 0.02; and abdomen, 20.1 Diane versus 31.2 Androcur, P less than 0.02. Except for breast tenderness (Diane greater than Androcur), amenorrhea, and weight gain, (Androcur greater than Diane), the incidence of side effects was comparable in both groups.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Amenorrhea; Body Weight; Breast Diseases; Clinical Trials as Topic; Cyproterone; Cyproterone Acetate; Double-Blind Method; Drug Combinations; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Hirsutism; Humans; Random Allocation; Time Factors

The effectiveness of the antiandrogenic agent cyproterone acetate (CA) in its contraceptive form (2 mg CA + 50 micrograms ethinyl estradiol) in the treatment of osteoporosis associated with athletic amenorrhea was studied in seven high-performance athletes. Four women with similar characteristics served as controls. Their mean age was 21.9 years +/- 3.9. Training was started at a mean age of 14.0 years +/- 2.0. The mean training intensity expressed as kilometers run per week was 35 +/- 15. Mineral density was primarily affected by the hypoestrogenic status of these athletes (= 22 pg/ml +/- 8.8 in the midluteal phase). All participants showed low serum progesterone (= 2.85 ng/ml +/- 2.10) and LH profiles (= 5.6 mlU/ml +/- 0.8) during the midluteal phase. Cyproterone acetate was administered for 8 months to treat the increased bone loss in seven women athletes. Vertebral density appeared to be increased with 9.5% +/- 2.45% (mean +/- SD) while cortical base mineral content measured at the radius was not significantly changed. Our results demonstrate that cyproterone acetate administered in combination with estrogens provides a suitable therapeutic agent in the management of osteoporosis due to a hypoestrogenic status. This treatment could substitute other contraceptive agents. Moreover, women with the most severe estrogen deficiency showed a more pronounced reaction to this therapy.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Amenorrhea; Bone and Bones; Cyproterone; Cyproterone Acetate; Drug Therapy, Combination; Estradiol; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Humans; Luteinizing Hormone; Minerals; Osteoporosis; Progesterone; Sports

The most important therapeutic problems of female puberty and adolescence are discussed, including high stature, amenorrhoea, oligomenorrhea, pubertas tarda, anovulation, anorexia, anisomastia, hypermastia. Indications for treatment are given and the possibilities for a prophylactic medicine in this age group are stressed.

Topics: Acne Vulgaris; Adolescent; Amenorrhea; Anorexia Nervosa; Breast Diseases; Child; Cyproterone; Drug Combinations; Endocrine System Diseases; Estradiol Congeners; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Growth Disorders; Hirsutism; Humans; Menstruation Disturbances; Obesity; Oligomenorrhea; Progesterone Congeners; Puberty, Precocious

Hirsutism (increased masculine-type sexual hair growth) is to be distinguished from hypertrichosis (generalized increase of body hair) and from virilism (organ changes tending towards masculinity) in which marked hormonal changes are alwasy observable. Hirsutism depends on age, race, heredity, hairfolicle sensitivity to testosterone, and on circulating testosterone and its precursors. The main source of testosterone and androstanedione formation is not the adrenal cortex, as previously assumed, but, as catheterization has demonstrated, the ovary. Mild forms can best be treated externally by plucking, shaving or electrolysis. In forms associated with amenorrhea the amenorrhea responds to corticoids but over a prolonged period of treatment the maximum regression of hirsutism is one-third. Good results are obtainable by reverse-sequence therapy with the competitive androgen antagonists cyproterone acetate and ethinyl estradiol (100 mg cyproterone acetate from 5th-14th day of menstrual cycle and 50 mug ethinyl estradiol from 5th-21st day). This therapy is however costly and not without side effects; it should therefore be used only for particularly troublesome cases.

Topics: Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Amenorrhea; Androstenedione; Cyproterone; Diagnosis, Differential; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Hirsutism; Humans; Hypertrichosis; Ovary; Testosterone; Virilism

Topics: Adult; Amenorrhea; Corpus Luteum; Cyproterone; Ethinyl Estradiol; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Hirsutism; Humans; Luteinizing Hormone; Middle Aged; Ovulation; Pregnanediol; Testosterone