Maldevelopment and Maldescent of the Testes

Abstract

In a previous paper 1 I reported the results of treatment with anterior pituitary-like gonadotropic hormone from the urine of pregnant women in a series of fourteen boys who showed underdevelopment of the genital tract. The information which follows is based on a study of these fourteen patients. A brief review of the facts will be given and then I shall endeavor to report additional observations and deductions which I made during and after the administration of this anterior pituitary-like gonadotropic hormone from the urine of pregnant women.Three of the patients (cases 10, 13 and 14) dropped out before treatment was completed. Two of these did not receive sufficient therapy to produce beneficial results. The third patient (case 14) received 36 cc. of the anterior pituitary growth hormone over a period of three months without the anterior pituitary-like gonadotropic hormone, but he showed no immediate response. Before treatment with the anterior pituitary-like gonadotropic hormone could be administered he dropped out. During the period he was out, no treatment was given ; yet when he returned six months later, although the external genitals were still hypoplastic, the gonads showed a marked increase in size. It appears that this development can hardly be attributed to treatment with the anterior pituitary growth hormone, even though the preparation employed also contained gonadotropic and thyrotopic prin¬ ciples ; this is considered, therefore, as one of the few instances of spon¬ taneous development. For the eleven other patients in this series, who did receive sufficient therapy, the duration of treatment with the anterior pituitary-like gonadotropic hormone varied with the type of genital underdevelopment.