[Sex hormones in chronic renal failure of the diabetic]

Renal failure per se complicates the study of the hypothalamo-hypophyso-gonadal axis. Impotence in the male and amenorrhoea in the female are virtually constant in advanced renal failure. In men, there is probably a double hypophysogonadal involvement and, hypothetically, in women, a hypothalamic involvement. Although the functional disorders were major in our group of haemodialysed diabetic patients, the laboratory abnormalities were only moderate. These abnormalities were absent in men and women with moderate renal failure. As the pathogenesis of the abnormalities is unknown, preventative treatment cannot be proposed. The clinical and biochemical status of the patients remains unchanged regardless of the dialysis procedure, but transplantation corrects the majority of the abnormalities, including the functional disorders.