[A new antigonadotropin in the treatment of precocious puberty and pubertal gynaecomastia (author's transl)]

Abstract

A synthetic steroid compound derived from testosteron (isoxazol-ethisterone), Danazol, with gonadotropin-depressing activity, was used in the treatment of 4 cases of idiopathis sexual precocity (age 2 1/2 to 4 years) and in 10 cases of severe pubertal gynaecomastia. In sexual precocity the suppression of menstruation as well as of breast-enlargement was good, while the suppression of acceleration of longitudinal growth and bone maturation was inferior compared with cyproteron-acetate. In most boys with gynaecomastia a marked regression of breast enlargement occurred within a few weeks or months. With the dosage used (200-300 mg/day in the sexual precocity patients, 300-400 mg in the gynaecomastia patients) the changes in plasma hormone levels (LH, FSH, progesterone, estradiol, testosterone) were within a non significant range. Depression of testosterone seemed to be a rather regular finding. No untoward side-effects of the medication were noticed in the 14 patients studied. In summary, Danazol did not show any advantages compared with the compounds used in the treatment of isosexual precocity sofar. In contrast, the drug proved to have useful effects in pubertal gynecomastia, a condition which in severe degrees certainly deserves medical treatment.