Testosterone and 17 beta-oestradiol secretion of the human ovary. II. normal postmenopausal women, postmenopausal women with endometrial hyperplasia and postmenopausal women with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium.

A study of the concentration of testosterone and of 17 beta-estradiol in blood drawn from the ovarian and cutal veins of normal oestrogen-deficient postmenopausal women and of postmenopausal women with signs of oestrogen activity, and the subsequent computation of the ovarian production rates of these two hormones, show that in the latter group of women there is a high ovarian secretion of testosterone. The theory is advanced that this ovarian-secreted testosterone is rapidly converted into 17 beta-oestradiol, and that, by thus increasing the levels of circulating oestrogens, ovarian-secreted testosterone contributes, albeit indirectly, to endometrial hyperplasia and possibly to endometrial carcinoma.