PLASMA OESTRADIOL RESPONSE TO SYNTHETIC FOLLICLE STIMULATING HORMONE/LUTEINIZING HORMONE RELEASING HORMONE IN PATIENTS WITH SECONDARY AMENORRHOEA

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Abstract
Summary: Plasma oestradiol showed a two‐ to three‐fold rise above the mean basal level by six hours after a single intravenous injection of synthetic Luteinizing Hormone and Follicle Stimulating Hormone Releasing Hormone (LH‐RH/FSH‐RH) in nine out of twelve patients with secondary amenorrhoea. Of the remaining three patients, two had persistently high basal plasma gonadotrophins in keeping with a diagnosis of premature menopause and one patient had secondary amenorrhoea of seven years' duration. It is suggested that a six‐hour plasma oestradiol estimate be used as the endpoint of the LH‐RH/FSH‐RH test in order to assess the pituitary‐ovarian axis. If a less than two‐fold increase in plasma oestradiol is found, pituitary reserve can be more intensively studied by assaying plasma follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).