Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone treatment for induction of follicular maturation and ovulation in amenorrhoeic women with anorexia nervosa.

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Abstract
Follicular maturation and ovulation can be induced in amenorrhoeic women with anorexia nervosa by long-term treatment with 500 mug of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) every eight hours. In some women, however, treatment with LH-RH alone results in ovulatory menstrual cycles with indications of luteal phase insufficiency. Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) was therefore given with LH-RH during three treatment cycles. This resulted in ovulation and normal corpus-luteum function, as shown by the occurrence of a single pregnancy in the only involuntarily sterile patient. During the prolonged LH-RH treatment the LH response to LH-RH increased in parallel with the increased oestrogen secretion while the follicle-stimulating hormone response to LH-RH decreased. These changes in the pituitary responsiveness to LH-RH may result from modulating effects on the pituitary by the sex steroids.