[Climacteric syndrome]

The most frequent symptoms of the climacteric syndrome are hot flushes. Although usually they disappear after a few years, hot flushes persist for five or more years in a quarter of the affected women. Aetiology and pathomechanism are not clear. Apart from oestrogen deficiency other diseases should be evaluated as potential causes of hot flushes such as psychosomatic disorders, hyperthyroidism and a neoplasm. The treatment of the first choice is an oestrogen replacement therapy. By assaying a single serum sample for oestradiol an oestrogen replacement therapy can be monitored reliably only in the case of transdermal application.