[Determination of urinary pregnanediol as an ovulation parameter]. / Medición de pregnandiol urinario como parametro de ovulacion

PIP: For women who are not pregnant, the excretion of pregnanediol can be measured to determine if ovulation has occurred. During the preovulatory stage excretion is low, but 3 or 4 days after ovulation it increases greatly. In this study, Klopper's procedure for the study of ovarian function was followed with some modifications by Goldzieher and Nakamura to obtain results fairly quickly. The standardization of the method was arrived at by determining the absorption spectrum and the spectometry of pregnanediol diacetate. The method was evaluated by studying its specification, accuracy, precision, and sensitivity. The menstrual cycles of 6 normal women were studied. In all cases, in the postovulatory phase the excretion of pregnanediol was higher than 1.3 mg in 24 hours of urine, indicating an increase in progesterrone excretion produced by the corpus luteum. The advantages of this method for determination of ovualtion are that no instruments are required, the sensitivity of the method is high, and it can be repeated often without bothering the patient, especially importnt for women with irregular cycles.^ieng