Observations on the Significance of Dehydroepiandrosterone, Androsterone and Etiocholanolone Determinations in the Differential Diagnosis of Certain Adrenal and Ovarian Diseases

Certain ovarian tumours secrete androgenic hormones, thus giving rise to pathological conditions which may have their onset at any age. In mild cases there is hypertrichosis and in more severe conditions definite symptoms of virilisation. However, in most of the cases examined, neither the biologically active androgenic hormones nor the neutral 17-ketosteroids (17-KS) have been shown to be clearly increased. This is evident from the cases of arrhenoblastoma collected by Dorfman (1956), in which hormonal determinations were carried out when investigating the cause of the disease. The observation is also supported by a case published by Würterle (1956), in which the 17-KS excretion was at the upper limit of the dispersed values for normal excretion. It was also true in the case reported below, in which the total 17-KS were within normal limits. The patient was a locomotive driver's wife aged 52. There was no known familial history of malignant