Reply of the Authors: Dehydroepiandrosterone treatment of ovarian failure

Abstract

We thank Drs. Barad, Weghofer, and Gleicher of the Center for Human Reproduction for their letter referring to our Correspondence article titled “POF and DHEA.” We find their comment on agreeing to an appropriate terminology to be used when DHEA results are reported to be justified. They are probably right in stating that only three of the patients in our study qualify for what is defined as premature ovarian failure (POF). However, according to our reference (1Larsen P.R. Kronenberg H.M. Melmed S. Polonsky K.S. Williams textbook of endocrinology.10th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia2003Google Scholar), POF is defined as “early depletion of ovarian follicles before the age of 40. These patients present with amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea and elevated FSH levels [of] >40 IU/L”. All of the patients of our study had secondary amenorrhea and received the same DHEA treatment. Even the one patient with FSH level of 30 IU/L (rightly defined as premature ovarian aging) had amenorrhea for 12 months, as much as the one with FSH level of 102 IU/L.We must note here that the study on POF and DHEA is ongoing and our results continue to be promising. Seven more patients with POF have been referred to our center and received DHEA treatment, and all of them achieved pregnancy.In all, we are most content to use a supplemental DHEA treatment for cases that otherwise would have required egg donation or other more invasive treatments. We thank Drs. Barad, Weghofer, and Gleicher of the Center for Human Reproduction for their letter referring to our Correspondence article titled “POF and DHEA.” We find their comment on agreeing to an appropriate terminology to be used when DHEA results are reported to be justified. They are probably right in stating that only three of the patients in our study qualify for what is defined as premature ovarian failure (POF). However, according to our reference (1Larsen P.R. Kronenberg H.M. Melmed S. Polonsky K.S. Williams textbook of endocrinology.10th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia2003Google Scholar), POF is defined as “early depletion of ovarian follicles before the age of 40. These patients present with amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea and elevated FSH levels [of] >40 IU/L”. All of the patients of our study had secondary amenorrhea and received the same DHEA treatment. Even the one patient with FSH level of 30 IU/L (rightly defined as premature ovarian aging) had amenorrhea for 12 months, as much as the one with FSH level of 102 IU/L. We must note here that the study on POF and DHEA is ongoing and our results continue to be promising. Seven more patients with POF have been referred to our center and received DHEA treatment, and all of them achieved pregnancy. In all, we are most content to use a supplemental DHEA treatment for cases that otherwise would have required egg donation or other more invasive treatments. Methods for defecting sperm apoptosisFertility and SterilityVol. 92Issue 2PreviewTo the Editor: Full-Text PDF Dehydroepiandrosterone treatment of ovarian failureFertility and SterilityVol. 91Issue 5PreviewTo the Editor: Full-Text PDF