ABSTRACT
The urine of 26 otherwise healthy women with fibrocystic disease of the breast was assayed by gas chromatography for testosterone and androstanediol (5alpha-androstane-3alpha, 17beta-diol), the major metabolite of dihydrotestosterone. The mean values for both androgens were significantly higher than in 18 normal women in the same age range. Sixteen of the 26 fibrocystic disease patients also had endometrial hyperplasia. Since the endometrial specimen was obtained in the premenstrual period, the presence of hyperplasia proved that the menstrual cycle in over two-thirds of the fibrocystic disease patients was nonovulatory.
PIP: Urine of 26 otherwise healthy women with fibrocystic breast disease (FCD) was assayed by gas chromatography for testosterone (Tes) and androstanediol (Ans), the major metabolite of dihydrotestosterone. The 26 patients under study had been subjected 3-5 months previously to biopsies of breast lumps, diagnosed as FCD. The histological features varied from simple cystic formations with moderate epithelial proliferation in 11 women (Group 1) to pronounced intraductal epithelial hyperplasia accompanied by epithelial cell atypia in 15 women (Group 2). The urinary Tes and Ans difference in FCD patients and controls (18 normal women) was significant at the level of p .01 for both androgens. In controls the mean excretion levels of Tes and Ans were 6.5 and 35 mcg/24 hours, respectively. In FCD patients, the mean Tes and Ans values were 17.4 and 68.5 mcg/24 hours, respectively. Group 2 presented a higher urinary Tes level than patients in Group 1, but the difference was not significant. The Ans level of Group 1 patients was significantly above normal (p .01) and near significantly higher (p .08) than that of the Group 2 patients; whereas the Ans level of Group 2 patients did not differ significantly from the normal value. Endometrial specimens showed that 16/26 FCD patients had endometrial hyperplasia. Since the endometrial specimen was obtained in the premenstrual period (Days 20-22), the presence of hyperplasia proved that the menstrual cycle in over two-thirds of the FCD patients was nonovulatory.
