A study on endocrine dysfunction in adult males with liver cirrhosis

Over a period of two years, 72 adult males with liver cirrhosis of different aetiologies were studied in terms of clinical and biochemical evidence of endocrine dysfunctions related to hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and the thyroid status, and compared with 40 age-matched control subjects. With more advanced disease, a progressive fall in testosterone, leutinising hormone and triiodothyronine and a rise in oestradiol was observed. Severity of the liver disease determined by Child-Turcotte-Pugh class, rather than aetiology (alcoholic or postviral), was the chief determinant of such dysfunctions. The involvement was both central and peripheral, with only peripheral defects at gonadal level in early state but dysfunctions at both the levels in late stage of cirrhosis.