Plasma testosterone values in hypopspadiacs.

The plasma testosterone values were determined by radioimmunoassay in a group of 42 patients with a severe form of hypospaida, in one case of epispadia, in a control group of 69 boys with an adequate development of sex organs, and in 48 well fertile men. It was found that the beginning of pubescence started in both groups at the same age but that already from 13 years onwards the level of male sex hormone in the blood was lower in hypospadiacs than in the individuals of the control group. The difference is statistically significant in the subgroups from 19 years of age onwards. It is assumed that the function of gonads was insufficient in these patients not only in the period of intrauterine life, but that it often remains reduced even in puberty and adulthood.