Further Studies on the Treatment of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia With Cortisone: V. Effects of Cortisone Therapy on Testicular Development*†

THE effects of cortisone therapy on the sexual development of female pseudohermaphrodites with congenital adrenal hyperplasia have been discussed in previous papers (1, 2, 3). In most girls in whom treatment was begun after the age of 8 years there was rapid development of the breasts and other female sex organs, and ovulatory menstrual cycles were established promptly. In several girls 5 or 6 years of age there was slight budding of the breasts without further progress of adolescent development. In still younger children no sexual changes were noted. The onset of adolescent female development seemed to depend upon the level of somatic development, as determined by the bone age which the patient had attained before cortisone treatment, rather than upon the chronologic age. The girls over 8 years of age who showed rapid development all had bone ages over 14 years. The present study deals with the effects of cortisone therapy on the testicular development of 7 boys with macrogenitosomia praecox due to adrenal hyperplasia, and with the effects of the removal of adrenal tumors on the testes of 2 boys who were precociously virilized.