[Hormonal function of the ovarian corpus luteum during benign mammary diseases]

Plasma progesterone and oestradiol levels were estimated in 54 women who were suffering from breast pathology. (There were 18 cases of benign breast dysplasia, 28 cases of cystic disease of the breast and 8 cases of adenofibromata.) All these women had menstrual cycles that were apparently ovulatory, and the blood sampling was carried out on the 4th day after the rise in the temperature plateau. By way of controls, the same estimations were carried out on 20 normal women of the equivalent age at the same stage of the raised plateau. The levels of plasma oestradiol in patients who had breast pathology (136 +/- 75 pg/ml) were not significantly different from those of normal women (120 +/- 50 pg/ml). On the other hand patients with mastopathies had a far lower level of progesterone in the phase of the cycle that was considered to be luteal (5-7 +/- 3-1 ng/ml) in comparison with normal women (13-2 +/- 3-5 ng/ml). From these results the conclusion can be drawn that women who have benign breast disease while they are active from the ovulation point of view show a defect in secretion of progesterone by the corpus luteum. This defect is an isolated one. The physiopathological implications derived from this observation are discussed.