Endocrine Abstracts

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can both cause ovarian failure, and radiotherapy can also damage the uterus increasing the risk of miscarriage and premature delivery. Alkylating agents are recognised to be the most gonadotoxic class of chemotherapeutic agents, but treatment regimens often involve multiple drugs complicating assessment of effect and risk. The prepubertal reproductive system is also sensitive to these effects, although age, with treatment regimen, are important de...

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can both cause ovarian failure, and radiotherapy can also damage the uterus increasing the risk of miscarriage and premature delivery. Alkylating agents are recognised to be the most gonadotoxic class of chemotherapeutic agents, but treatment regimens often involve multiple drugs complicating assessment of effect and risk. The prepubertal reproductive system is also sensitive to these effects, although age, with treatment regimen, are important de...

Recent years have seen a dramatic rise in interest in preserving fertility in women facing treatment for cancer and other serious diseases, and fertility preservation is rapidly becoming a mainstream part of reproductive medicine. This approach, however, serves to remove oocytes or ovarian tissue before cancer treatment, rather than directly protecting the ovary itself. Some chemotherapies and radiotherapy have well known adverse effects on follicle number, although the detail...

Recent advances in the treatment of teenage cancers have led to an increasing focus on the late effects of treatment, amongst which fertility is prominent with surveys ranking potential loss of fertility as amongst the most important concerns of teenage and young adult patients. The various treatments for teenage cancer including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery can all potentially compromise fertility with the most toxic therapies being alkylating agent based chemothera...

A wide range of reproductive functions are susceptible to adverse affects from cancer treatment. Effects on spermatogenesis are more common than deficiencies in testosterone production, but in the female the gametogenic and steroidogenic aspects of gonadal function are more intimately associated. Radiotherapy can compromise hypothalamic and pituitary function, the ability of the uterus to support a pregnancy, and erectile function. Alkylating agents are regarded as having high...

AMH is produced by the granulosa cells of growing follicles in the ovary, with peak expression at the small antral stage, followed by a sharp decline, and it is not produced by the corpus luteum. It therefore provides an indirect index of the ovarian reserve, and will also be affected by factors that influence folliculogenesis, such as hormonal contraception. This provides the basis for understanding and developing its potential use as a diagnostic tool in assessing the ovary....

A 33-year-old male with a background of idiopathic hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism was referred to the endocrine clinic to discuss fertility. He was originally diagnosed overseas when presented with delayed puberty in late teens. He had a normal pituitary MRI and since then he had been on testosterone replacement; other pituitary function was normal. He was not anosmic however no other information was available from diagnosis. When he attended the clinic the patient and his wif...

Background: The hypothalamic neuropeptides kisspeptin and neurokinin B (NKB) are both obligate for normal gonadotrophin secretion. Studies in patients with loss-of-function mutations in NKB signalling suggest that kisspeptin is functionally upstream of NKB, but this hierarchy is unexplored in healthy men and women. We hypothesised that kisspeptin augmentation of estrogen-induced mid-cycle LH secretion will not be abrogated by pharmacological blockade of NKB.<p class="abste...

Background: Urinary concentrations of the major progesterone metabolite pregnanediol glucuronide (P3G) are used clinically and in research to monitor ovulation. This ELISA is laborious and costly. If it could be replaced by the automated sensitive chemiluminescence assays routinely used for serum this would be of great value.Objective: We aimed to determine the validity of urine progesterone as measured by two widely used automated assays in comparison t...

Background: Urinary concentrations of the major progesterone metabolite pregnanediol glucuronide (P3G) are used clinically and in research to monitor ovulation. This ELISA is laborious and costly. If it could be replaced by the automated sensitive chemiluminescence assays routinely used for serum this would be of great value.Objective: We aimed to determine the validity of urine progesterone as measured by two widely used automated assays in comparison t...