EFFICACY OF TESTOSTERONE COMPOUNDS ADMINISTERED SUBLINGUALLY TO HYPOGONADAL MEN*

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The androgenic effects of buccal tablets of testosterone, testosterone propionate, and methyltestosterone were assayed in 12 hypo-gonadal men. In 7 of the patients, treatment with tablets under the tongue or in the buccal gutter was the initial androgenic therapy; the other 5 had previously received parenteral androgens, but treatment had lapsed before the start of this study in 3 cases. Various prepns. were compared serially in the same patient, and the degree of androgenic effect tabulated. When admd. as buccal or sublingual tablets, methyltestosterone was approx. twice as potent per mg. as unesterified testosterone, which in turn was approx. twice as potent as testosterone propionate. Failures to initiate or to maintain an androgenic effect were not encountered with methyltestosterone, but occasionally were found with the other 2 prepns. The type of base or the place in the buccal cavity in which the tablets were dissolved did not seem to alter the clinical effectiveness to any important degree. The gelatin-sucrose base seemed occasionally slightly superior to the lactose base or the wax base as a vehicle for unesterified testosterone. Hard compressed tablets designed for slow dissolution appear to be essential for full effectiveness by this route. In this series of hypogonadal men, 10 mg. of methyltestosterone per day admd. as a buccal or sublingual tablet was usually a full maintenance dose.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: