Ewha Med J.  2011 Sep;34(2):33-38. 10.12771/emj.2011.34.2.33.

The Clinical Effect of Androgen Replacement Therapy for Female Sexual Dysfunction

• Lee SJ
• Chung WS
• Yoon H

• KMID: 2283967
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12771/emj.2011.34.2.33

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Androgen plays an important role in female sexual function, and its insufficiency causes a clinically significant sexual dysfunction. This study examines the association between sex hormones and the clinical effect of testosterone replacement therapy in female sexual dysfunction.
METHODS
This study examined 75 female patients who visited our hospital from March 2002 to June 2008 to treat sexual dysfunction. For the rest of the patients, we performed primary treatment and physiotherapy in accordance with the main cause of their sexual dysfunction. We also performed combination treatment of androgen replacement therapy for the patients who did not make medical progress after two months of primary treatment and for the patients whose free testosterone level is in the bottom group out of three normal range groups.
RESULTS
The mean age of target patients was 39.6+/-8.7 years (range, 35~66 years) old. 10 patients out of 75 patients were postmenopausal women, and estrogen replacement therapy had been performed without androgen replacement therapy. We performed a combination treatment of androgen replacement therapy for the patients with sexual desire disorder, and 60% of them answered that they had an increased sexual response after they were given combination treatment of androgen replacement therapy.
CONCLUSION
The results support the concepts that sex hormones significantly affect sexual response in women with sexual dysfunction. Clinically, it is effective and safe to perform a combination treatment of androgen replacement therapy in treating sexual dysfunction if medication is administered properly and carefully.

Keyword

Gonadal steroid hormones; Sexual dysfunction; Androgen

MeSH Terms

Estrogen Replacement Therapy
Female
Gonadal Steroid Hormones
Humans
Reference Values
Testosterone
Gonadal Steroid Hormones
Testosterone

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Symptom distribution in sexually dysfunctional females. Types of sexual dysfunction are classified according to FSFI & history taking. Questionnaire and patient claims when visiting the hospital. 90% (67/75), 85% (63/75), 92% (69/75), 35% (26/75) and 50% (37/75) of patients have desire, arousal, orgasmic, pain and satisfaction disorder, respectively. The mean age of each group was 40.5±9.5 years (range, 38~62 years) for desire disorder, 36.5±10.3 years (range, 44~57 years) for arousal disorder, 41.3±11.2 years (range, 45~60 years) for orgasmic disorder, 8.7±7.7 years (range, 35~54 years) for pain disorder, and 39.5±11.3 years (range, 40~61 years) satisfaction disorder.

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  Fig. 2 Results of hormone therapy. 12 patients reported a subjective improvement of symptoms, 8 patients a significant change, and 4 patients a slight change. 5 patients had no significant change, 3 patients stopped the therapy because of side effects such as hoarseness and hyperorexia, and 6 patients were lost in the follow up.

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