HORMONAL RESPONSES TO A FIRST COURSE OF CLOMIPHENE CITRATE IN WOMEN WITH AMENORRHOEA

Summary

The hormonal criteria of a “normal” or “ovulatory” response, and three grades of subnormal anovulatory responses, were defined during a first course of treatment with clomiphene citrate in twenty patients with amenorrhoea for which no organic cause could be found. The hormonal responses were estimated by frequent serum measurements and by the menstrual response. Seven patients had a normal or ovulatory response with a late rise of serum progesterone and subsequent menses. Their serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and oestradiol (E₂) responses were greater than in spontaneous menstrual cycles. Five patients gave only partial responses, with menstruation and no prior rise of progesterone. Their serum LH and E₂ responses were generally lower than in the normal group but had the same pattern except for an absence of the luteal phase rise in E₂. Five patients who did not menstruate showed smaller and more variable responses. The remaining five showed no hormonal rerponses. The second and third groups had ovulatory responses on subsequent clomiphene courses, whereas no improvement was shown by the last group. The serum E₂ responses offered the most sensitive index of the responsiveness to clomiphene. Response values in our normal group suggested that higher progesterone levels need to be reached after clomiphene administration than in spontaneous cycles for ovulation to be inferred. The serum prolactin showed no consistent response during the clomiphene test; three patients with moderately raised basal prolactin levels had “normal” responses.