Salivary testosterone as an index of antiandrogen therapy in hirsutism

The purpose of this study is to examine whether salivary testosterone (ST) in hirsute women treated with antiandrogen therapy can be considered a good parameter for the evaluation of clinical response. Twenty-three hirsute women, four with polycystic ovarian disease and 19 with idiopathic hirsutism were treated with cyproterone acetate and ethynyl-oestradiol with levonorgestrel in a reverse sequential regime for three months. Basal ST from hirsute women was 0.18 +/- 0.11 nmol/L (normal values 0.03-0.17) and a decrease to 0.11 +/- 0.06 was observed in the first month of treatment, to 0.1 +/- 0.059 after two months and to 0.11 +/- 0.06 after three months, all of them significantly different from basal values (p < 0.05). We found a relationship between ST decrease and the clinical response to antiandrogen therapy. On the basis of these results we suggest that ST values could be a good index for the follow-up of antiandrogen therapy in hirsute women.