[Indications, contraindications and legal problems in antiandrogen treatment].

The author in his present paper gives an outline of the indications, contraindications, and legal problems of Androcur treatment. Androcur (cyproterone acetate) is an antiandrogen that is capable of competitively inhibiting androgens in the organism. Accordingly, the effects obtained by drug therapy, of which the purpose is to reduce the sexual desire or libido, are similar to those produced by operative castration. The use of such drugs makes it possible to control abnormal sex drives and desires and prevent sexual offenders from becoming recidivous. Since treatment with Androcur is an intervention in the deeply personal sphere and there is not yet availability any reliable data on the full reversibility of the phenomena involved (for example, alterations to the testicles) especially in the case of long-time treatment, such therapy should be carried out on the principle of absolute voluntariness and after suitable suggestions have been furnished as to the proper treatment of the respective subject.